The Last Sacrifice Their Choice
by AwesomeAssassin
Summary: *SPOLIERS*** Rose is trying to be happy again. But with the echoing voices of her past playing in her head, how could she possibly? "write a book I'll definetly buy it..." "for a minute acctally thought this was the the last sacrafice!" R&R Dim&Roz 4evar!
1. Chapter 1

I saw what Dimitri had meant when he had told me he didn't want to see me. I could only imagine what it must have been like, for him to have gone through all that he did. And to top that off, he had been placed in this lonely place with nothing with his thoughts, which were still guilty.

But Dimitri had fought for me when I had been dragged away from the hearing. He was yelling out to me, screaming to me, to fight for myself. But I had not listened to him.

He had made his choice.

I clutched my knees on the stone cold ground. My face was a mask of dried up tears that had enclosed my face as I had, very sloppily, brushed them away with my hand. I honestly didn't care at this point, and that didn't just mean my appearances, but it was instinct to wipe them away before they grew cold.

I was huddled up in the farthest corner of the cell, exactly like the one that had held Dimitri only a couple of weeks ago. They didn't feed me well, which I guess was to be expected.

But this was worse than Dimitri's situation, I think. At least he had been under strict supervision, which I was too, maybe even more heavily than him, since my previous experiences with breaking out of jail had all gone swimmingly. But he had been kept away, out of the eye of the public.

With me, I was out on public display, as far as I was concerned. Anyone who wanted to see 'the queen's murderer' could, and would, just walk in here, talk to the guards about what I deserved, and left. I just starred at the ground until they left, but I was tired and hungry, and I really couldn't be bothered lifting my head again, or moving at all.

But, thankfully, I got the privilege of telling who I _didn't_ want to see me like this. The list had been so long, the guard had ordered another to get me a pen and paper to write them all down. Of course, I had had the pen taken off of me and a thorough search had taken place afterwards.

But there was one name that I was putting on and rubbing off the list. I had fought for him. He had fought for me. I loved him, and he had loved me. _Had._ But I decided to put Dimitri down, even after all of this. He had told me there was no way he could love me again.

He had made his choice.

That one sentence played through my mind through those few weeks I was in that jail cell. Nothing else. Not even a _Dimitri doesn't love me_. He had made his choice. I had given away everything to have him back, to be with him, and he hadn't even said a thank you. It was all Lissa.

Jealousy swept over me, but that wasn't the only reason that I placed her name on the paper.

Adrian Ivashkov

Vasilisa Dragomir

Christian Ozera

Jainie Hathaway

Dimtri Belikov

Mia Rinaldi

Eddie Castle

I had handed over the paper to the guard and the pen before they did the search, just in case, and had sat down again. I had also told the guard that more may be added.

I hadn't put Abe's name down, only because he may need to tell me something seriously important about the trial.

And that's how I spent my weeks in the Court's high security jail, awaiting to see if I would be trialed as guilty, even though the evidence was so painfully obvious it would be a cake walk for a four year old. I had bothered to count the eight times Lissa tried to talk to me each day, and as the trial grew closer and closer, it was more and more times.

But I didn't need to see her, and I was finally grateful that she cold not feel what I was feeling through the bond. I saw everything I needed to see, while she saw nothing of how pathetic I was.

She and Christian had forgiven each other, finally, and he was doing a fantastic job of keeping her calm. Adrian popped in once and a while, and Dimitri was there most of the time, but like with Lissa and visiting, he grew more and more distant from her, but not fully. He would still look deeply into her eyes, like he was checking for something.

No matter how macho I tried to act, I would never really get over Dimitri. I had known that all along.

I sighed and leaned against the cold wall so I wasn't supporting any weight on any part of my body. I was sure I would have a hunched back when I got out of here, if I did get out of here, but again, I really didn't care.

"Your slop is coming." A sincere voice came from the other side of the bars. I knew who it was instantly, but I made no attempt to talk. There was sighing coming from him. "Rose, you have to eat. You might still get through this."

I lifted my head and as slow as a snail, turned towards my father. "I doubt it." I snapped as well as I could. "They're starving me in here so I don't have enough energy to escape. People are with me every second of every day and night, yet I'm always alone. People are disgusted in me, not just annoyed or disappointed anymore. They want to _kill_ me. They're taking the easy road _again_ and _again_ it involved me in a bad way. And on top of all that, _again_ I have to get my own way out."

Abe had nothing to say. I knew he saw what the council had become, and poor _Zmey_, for once, could do nothing. No spies, no messengers, no assassins, nothing would make this any better. All of his connections were useless, as far as he was concerned. I had other uses for them, but I had heeded Tatiana's warnings.

Tell as few people as possible. Abe would be very useful, but could I honestly trust him? I was still unsure, and I couldn't risk anything this big.

Lissa wasn't the only Dragomir left. There was one more. Eric Dragomir's daughter or son was out there somewhere, a half sibling to Lissa. When he or she returned, the Dragomir family could vote against the decree. No sixteen year olds would walk as a full guardian.

But was it really that easy? We had no leads, and that's where I needed his connections.

"If you didn't do it, they'll realize." He tried to sooth me, although it really didn't work for him.

I laughed humorlessly. "Just like that understood that I took Lissa away in the first place for her own safety. They still haven't forgiven me for that."

Apparently, he wanted no more on the conversation. "Your mother has been frantic ever since she found out. She flew down here with her assignment and has been begging the guards to let her see you. She and I were both surprised when we saw you had put her name down."

"Sorry if I want to have dignity left in me without my mother coming in and telling me how disappointed and disgusted she was, just like the rest of them."

He frowned and talked slowly. "Do you honestly think that your friends would do that?"

"No," I admitted, thinking of Dimitri. He would never look at me like that, even if he _was_ keeping his distance from me. "But…dignity, remember?"

He raised an eyebrow. "If you were truly worried about dignity, no one would be down here. You'd take care of yourself a little more, too."

He was talking about my tear stained face that had run my make up all down my face.

I sighed. "Well they haven't even tried to get in. All I hear is Lissa."

"Your mother has tried to get in here twenty two times, you know that?"

I frowned. "She has? I didn't hear-"

"Adrian even more so, although he's been here longer. Christian by himself, without Vasilisa tried quite a few times too. Even Dimitri, maybe more than all of them."

I sighed and tried to not get all worked up. So he had tried to see me, maybe he would just spit on me like the rest of them. True, I know he knew I didn't do it. But it was all I got for a while, sitting in here. I expected everyone to do it.

"Dimitri?" I asked, pretending to be bored.

He nodded shortly. "He's really worried about you. They all are. You need someone like that to comfort you through a time like this."

I shook my head slowly. "No, I'll live. For now." I told him, making my correction as soon as I made the mistake. "I see why Dimitri didn't want me to come in when he was here. It's just so…depressing. You don't hope. It'll always be crushed when you're in here." I paused and thought over my words. "But you can tell them this. I'll see them at the trial."

Abe guessed my face. "And for Dimitri?"

Many words burned on my tongue, most pleading for him to come down and see me. But they burned. One stuck, though.

"He made his choice." I whispered, repeating it over again. Every time, it got easier and harder. Easier to say it. Harder to let go.

Abe sighed sadly, stood for a moment later, than walked out. I turned around and leaned on the wall again, closing my eyes. I slipped into Lissa's mind again, like I always did whenever I thought about her. I needed to make sure she was okay, physically as well as mentally.

She, Christian, Adrian and, god help me, Dimitri, were standing at the closest point they could get to me. Abe stepped out, retrieving his scissors and other metals that had been taken off of him on his way out. Lissa was the first to demand information.

"She's letting me in, right?" she asked in a cry. "Let me through, she's letting me in."

Christian read Abe's expression, not the easiest thing to do, and held Lissa back. She fought in his arms before realizing. She turned into his chest and cried into it. She talked to herself as she sobbed, but I could still hear what was going on.

"Did she say anything else?" Adrian demanded. "Is she alright? Can we go in yet?"

Abe sighed. "I'm afraid not. Apparently, she wants to keep her dignity."

Did it really sound that corny when it came out of my mouth? I realised it probably did.

Abe continued. "She's okay, and she said that she would see you all at the trial." He sounded as though he was talking to Dimitri now. "I pleaded your case too."

Lissa lifted her head at that news and looked at the two of them.

Dimitri's eyes widened. "And?"

"She said to tell you, _you made your choice_."

Dimitri, I swear to god, flinched.

He sighed after a moment. "That's expected. Anything else?"

He seemed totally crushed, which shocked me. But I did not let myself hope. Hope crushes. Just like everything else in my life.

Abe nodded. "She sees what you saw in that cell. Depressing. Don't deserve anyone. Don't allow yourself hope. I'm fairly sure that even if you didn't keep her out, she would have kept you out. She really cares about you."

He blinked a little too hard, a flinch in my books.

"She also told me she will live, but then thought better of it."

That was so unnecessary!

"This is ridiculous!" Lissa cried. "She didn't even do it! I should at least be able to see her!"

"And do what?" Abe questioned her smoothly. "Stand at her bars and tell her she's going to be okay? That everything will work out? She doesn't believe it, and you don't _want_ to believe it. I'm doing everything I can, but I'm sure it will be enough."

"Are you even trying!" she screamed at him, her face being pulled softly back to Christian's chest.

"If we could get down there, would we be allowed in her cell?" Dimitri asked, earning him a glare from Adrian.

Abe shrugged. "She's probably one of the most wanted criminals in the court right now, but I don't see any reason we wouldn't be allowed in. She'd be hand cuffed, though, for safety. The princess wouldn't be allowed in though, and you certainly wouldn't be just allowed to walk in if she doesn't want you there. The limit is just getting down there."

"She owes you." Lissa said quietly. She was quite disturbed that there was the smallest possibility that she could just walk in there and hug me, but she kept strong. "It's only right. If you could find Tomas…"

Dimitri smiled. "I'll try."

Adrian, apparently, wasn't happy about this arrangement.

"And what about me!" Adrian asked.

They all shrugged.

There was a moment of silence that drifted around them, then drifted around me, and I was back in my cell.

Dimitri would be coming in.

Why did he even bother?


	2. Breatheit's time to run

I was dragged out of the cell by seven guards and into the courtroom. All this fuss for an innocent Dhampir. A waste of time. Time that could have been spent better. For example, catching the _actual killer!_ Apparently, their minds were set.

I wasn't proven wrong when I walked into the courtroom with the guards, cuffs around my wrists. I did the whole 'walk of shame' in front of the eagerly awaiting Moroi and Dhampir.

I was almost, _almost_ comforted by that, but then my mind snapped into place. It had never worked right, but this was something totally different.

_They want your death. They want peace._

I tried to put on a confident face as I stumbled down the room. Sure, I could walk better than that, but if this turned sour, it would cost my life anyway. I needed to escape. I had an idea where I'd go.

Kind of.

I was pushed into the middle of a space surrounded by people. I saw, out of the corner of my eyes, Lissa and Christian holding hands anxiously. Adrian was rubbing the back of his hand as he starred at me. I knew he was itching for a cigarette, but he loved me enough to stay and watch. Then, I suppose, anyone would, if it meant the great Rose Hathaway would die.

Shockingly, it didn't surprise me to see Alberta and Kirova sitting in the back row behind Adrian. A couple of the graduates were here too. Some were my friends, some were the people I wasn't enemies with.

Jill was here too, as was her mum, Emily. They caught my eye, and they both looked on the verge of crying.

Of course, Janine was here too, talking to Abe frantically.

And out at the very corner, the person I actually turned my head for.

Dimitri.

He was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, an expression on his face copied the rest of the courtroom who was voting for me, but with an unnatural calmness that he had. The one that actually made me think he cared for me.

He made his choice.

It was like a slap in the face, especially with him right there. It was one thing thinking it over and over again, then saying out loud, but thinking it with him around? Out of the barrier. What would happen if I had to say it out loud to his face? Would I give in?

I turned my attention back to the council that sat in front of me. Tears of fear leaked from Lissa's eyes. I saw that she was at the point that she didn't care too. This was it. This would be the difference between happiness and on the run forever.

Except she didn't know my plan. Again, I was thankful for the one way bond.

The council looked at my with glares of resentment as I prepared myself for battle. I took notice of where every single person was in the room before looking at them.

"Rosemarie Hathaway," The judge said with a voice strong of authority. "You stand the charges of murdering Queen Tatiana. How do you stand?"

I swallowed my pride. "Not guilty, your honor."

She nodded. Iris Kane stood at the opposite side of the room, not even glancing at me. I guessed she had gotten enough of that the last time we met. In the hearing.

The judge looked towards Iris. "Your evidence?"

Iris handed several files to the judge before retaking her place. The judge looked over them very carefully. Abe was right at my side now, placing a hand on my shoulder. Yeah, he had said before that he wished he could just pick me up from the police station like normal fathers.

That was his problem, though, not mine. But I left his hand there.

The judge looked at me. "The evidence is very strong against you, Miss Hathaway."

I was about to tell her we had had this conversation when Abe cut me off.

"Your honor, perhaps I may say something?"

She nodded, much to Iris's displeasure.

"The evidence is strong against Rose, but she had actually put u a very good point at the hearing. She had said that the evidence is painfully obvious, and she would have done a much better job than that if anything. I believe this is a set up. But can you see that? She would have never left the stake in her. She would have used someone else's stake, if anything.

"It's too messy, and it's meant to be that way."

He had totally just stolen my bit! But I wasn't concerned about that this moment. My life was on the line right this moment.

The judge looked towards the jury. "Do we have enough information for this trial to go ahead?"

There was a sea of bobbing heads in the jury.

The judge addressed the rest of us. "The jury will now take all evidence and information into the decision room. A short recess will be in order for the rest of us."

The courtroom broke into a sea of chatter and I sat down. Lissa was calling my name from where she sat, and I decided after a moment, to not be Dimitri. That was me not three weeks ago, with Dimitri. I would have given everything, and I did, to talk to him.

I stopped a fair distance away, but we could still have a private chat with a hundred or so of my closest friends.

"It's gonna be okay," she told me. "I won't let anything happen to you."

I sighed and rolled my eyes, moving closer to her until I didn't have to shout.

"You know better than I do that this isn't going well! You can't promise something like that, Liss, you just can't. Do you have a piece of paper on you?"

She dug in her purse for a moment then handed me a pen and paper.

I wrote her a quick note, folded it up and handed it back to her.

"You don't open this until I tell you too, you hear me? This is important, and no matter how much you want to open it, don't." I took a deep breath in. "and if I don't survive, I want you to open it."

Lissa bit back a sob. She knew she wanted to promise me the world, but this was one war that we were powerless against.

The jury piled into the room then, and I took my position again. This was it. The matter between life or death. To be executed, or to live.

"The jury has decided," the judge began. She opened a note and read it aloud to us. I brace myself. "Guilty."

A shocked gasp went around the room, and instantly guardians were coming at me from all sides.

"You know I have to do this," I whispered to Abe.

He nodded. "Go to the Belikov's. Make sure Dimitri or anyone else doesn't know you are there. I will send for you when it is safe."

I looked at him, and I was grabbed from behind at the arms. I twisted his arms fast, like I had been taught, and he had fallen to the ground.

The fighting went as I had been trained.

Distraction. Something to give you the first opening.

Hurt the jaw. A good jab knocks them out of balance.

Attack their hearing. A good clap with their head between your hands works wonders.

Elbow block, they will fight you will the best they've got. Come around with a rib attack.

Another jaw punch, fracturing it. Get them to _really_ stumble.

Jab to the ribs. Hard enough to break bones.

One last upper cut to the jaw. Dislocating it fully.

Then a final kick to the stomach to make them fall.

Result : Dislocated jaw, four broken ribs, ears ringing, unconscious.

Recovery time: six weeks physical recovery, six months mental.

And I was out of there faster than I had ever exited a building before. Not when we were attacked by Strigoi in Spokane, not when I ran away from Dimitri in Russia, not even escaping the building in Las Vegas. I knew the backup plan if I had failed any of those tasks.

Not now. Failing this would be my death.

I ran into the woods, people coming at me, screaming and shooting at me. I ducked into the trees, but kept running until I was sure the maze would confuse them, if they hadn't been scared by the fact that a 'murderer' was on the loose in the woods where I had the advantage.

I stood for a moment, assessing where I had come, and where I was going.

The Belikov's. Sure enough, Abe would tell Dimitri that his family thought he was dead, and would want it that way. I wouldn't be able to tell them the great news.

Great news for anyone but me.

I took off towards the roads where I could maybe hitch hike again.

Russia, here I come.

Again.

The Belikov's house was exactly as I had left it. There was no physical difference, if you didn't count how long the grass was. I knocked hard on the front door three times, nervous.

What would I tell them? I couldn't exactly just waltz in there and say, _Hey, I'm on the run from the Moroi Council because they think that I killed Tatiana when I didn't. They want to kill me, but I need to find out who did. I have absolutely no leads because they framed me. Not to mention find out Vasilisa's long lost brother or sister. Oh, you didn't know? Yeah apparently she does because her father hooked up with this random chick, most definitely in Las Vegas. So I'm gonna crash here, 'Kay?_

I was pretty sure that wouldn't go down well. Maybe they would turn me in, who knew?

When Olena Belikova opened the door, she looked shocked for a moment, then grinned at me in pleasant surprise.

"Oh Roza! We have been waiting for you!"

She hushed me into the house, taking a nervous look around outside to make sure anyone had heard her voice before closing the door.

I had waited so long to hear a Belikov say my name. Roza. But, as it turns out, unsurprisingly, I had been waiting to hear that from a _different_ Belikov. I sighed at that thought, but then I frowned and spun around to Olena.

"Wait. Did you just say you were _waiting_ for me? I guess you would know that I would come to visit, but you couldn't have just expected it." I argued, although I was quite confused. Did she really wait all that time for me to come back?

She laughed. "Oh Roza. No, Abe Mazur called. He asked if you could stay with us for a couple of days."

I suddenly felt very stupid. "Oh." I sighed, but then, again, I was caught on something. "A couple of days? You know what's going on, right? I think it'll take more than a couple of days."

"That's true," she said softly. "Being wrongly accused of murder, figuring it out…it takes quite a while. Abe has not told anyone of the people who care about you, not even your mother, where you are. He is out of the Court for now, looking for leads and people who would want to hurt you in that way,"

"You mean kill me, right?" I asked, saying what she was too afraid too.

She nodded once. "But none the less, you have to keep moving, even if you place is secure. There are a lot of people in Russia who would love to help you, Roza. But Abe also wants you focus on learning while you hide. You can't just do one at a time. Just like before."

Before, when I had stayed here while hunting Dimitri. Before, when I had killed Strigoi in Novosibirsk while still hunting Dimitri. Before, when I had been under Dimitri's love, while hunting him.

I almost wished for those days back, when at least I had the illusion that Dimitri still loved me, and then thought better of it. I wanted him, not an illusion.

"What does he want me to learn?" I asked her.

She grinned. "Spirit."

I frowned. "That's Lissa's realm, not mine. I was sort of forced into it."

"True. But you can learn so much from Mark and Oksana. Abe has arranged everything here, where you will be staying, for the time being."

"And if they don't figure it out? If I'm stuck on the run for the rest of my life?"

Apparently, she wanted to hear nothing of it.

"Go unpack your things. You're in your room again." She said.

"You mean Dimitri's room?"

Her breath caught, and I instantly realised my mistake. I shut up then and walked upstairs.

"Abe knew you didn't have much." She said, catching me on the second stair. "He has sent some things for you. Some disguises, too, I think."

I nodded thanks and walked quickly into Dimitri's room. Still his room. But she would know that later.

For now, all I could do was watch and listen until things settled down a bit, and then I would figure out what the fuck was going on.


	3. OMFG!

He made his choice.

Being in Dimitri's room, I knew from personal experience, was nothing at all like being with Dimitri unless you were wrapped under the covers and closed your eyes. Even then you had to have a good imagination that those soft, feather covers were strong, hard arms, and that the pillows was his jaw leaning against your hair. Breathing on it. In fact, you had to imagine everything except the smell, which was fading quickly now. I was pretty sure that if I hadn't smelled him again after the last time I had been here, I wouldn't be able to pretend anymore.

My life was now all about pretending. It was so sad.

I slipped into Lissa's head while I laid in the bed after a long couple of days of traveling. She was absolutely worried sick about me, snuggled up in Christian's arms as I pretended to be in Dimitri's.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" she asked Christian in a soft, vulnerable voice.

Christian squeezed her harder. "I can't lie to you, Liss, I'm not sure. But if anyone could survive this, you know it'd be Rose."

She sighed. "What if she can't get of it this time? What if she needs me, but I don't know? I don't even know where she is? I could do so much if I could just see her through the bond."

Christian tried to joke. "It would be good to get someone see into that crazy mind of hers."

"She's not crazy. She's in love."

Christian tilted her head up to meet his eyes. "As am I."

He kissed her passionately, and I pushed myself out of her head.

I could never really catch her at the right time nowadays, not since she got back with Christian.

I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep, wrapped in Dimitri's arms.

I had seen this place before, but only from a vague memory. I think Lissa and I had stopped here for a while whilst we were on the run from the academy, a long time ago. I had control over my actions in this dream, and I instantly froze.

Adrian leaned on the brick wall of one of the small stores that surrounded the street. John's Supermarket.

"Hey little Dhampir." He grinned at me. "Still the little troublemaker, I see."

"They were going to wrongly kill me. I had to do it." I argued.

He held up his hands like a crook would to a policeman.

"I'm not here to judge. We all knew what had to happen. But some questions are in order, I think."

I sighed. "No, I didn't do it, and yes, I'm not telling you where I am. Any more?"

He grinned. "Not for now. Also, your father came to talk to me today."

Shit. That had to be bad news, but then again, maybe he knew about Adrian's 'gift'.

"Yeah?"

"He asked if I could bring you information without any suspecting. I thought of this," he gestured around him, "And told him yes. From now on, when you want to know what's happening back here, all you have to do is dream."

I smiled sarcastically. "Great."

He grinned. "And how was your transfer?"

"Annoying and uncomfortable." I grumbled. "So what's the news from over there, then?"

"Everyone is very disturbed that America's most wanted criminal is on the loose." He grinned.

"I know that!" I said impatiently. "I mean with every body else. Are they okay? I know Lissa's kind of gone into denial, or shock, and Christian is acting strong for her, but I don't see anybody else. She locked herself in her room."

"We're being questioned for your whereabouts. But since we have no clue…we couldn't help them if we wanted too."

I sighed.

"They're trying to think of ways to contact you without having me send personal messages all the time. The phone's are under supervision, so don't call. NEVER pick up your cell when it's any of us calling."

I figured.

I sighed. "I have to catch this guy, Adrian. I need to know why someone wants me dead, and why they just didn't do it to me. Why all the commotion?"

He shrugged. "Maybe it was two birds with one stone?" he suggested.

"I need him. Alive. Do you think you could find something out? Con Abe into it?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Conning your father is like asking the president for his mobile number and personal email."

I would have laughed in a less serious time.

"Lissa's stressing." He told me suddenly. "She wants the bond to go both ways. Now more than ever."

I sighed. "Make sure she doesn't hurt herself."

He grinned. "Wouldn't dream of it."

"I get to go where?"

Olena grinned. "The academy. Abe rang last night and told me he had told your story, pulled a couple of strings, and you are now a proud student of the academy Dimitri used to go to before he graduated."

"But I already graduated." I told her, a smile growing slowly on my face.

"Honor student. You get to do a whole year if you want too."

I grinned. "Wow."

She nodded. "Now, it's not going to be like Montana, but it's the same principle. So long as you don't draw attention to yourself and you keep under cover, you'll be fine. If you ever have to escape, you go to Oksana's house. She'll help you transfer again to somewhere safe."

The academy, again. It was a good idea, really. I could go back to my life, almost. Different people, different teachers, but I think I could make it work.

"But it's gonna be risky," she warned. "If you draw too much attention to yourself, they'll know instantly. If you rise over and above other people's grades like you do, the Court'll know. If you fail, they know that too."

"So stay good, but not too good?" I asked.

She nodded.

I grinned. "Thank you, Olena."

She pulled me in for a hug, surprising me. I hugged her back, none the less.

"Oh! I almost forgot. Silly me. Dimitri's grandmother would like to speak to you, now you are here."

I flinched. She always claimed to know what would happen. Would she blow my cover? Would Dimitri be exposed? I swallowed my nerves.

"Do you know about what?" I asked her in as casual tone as I could manage.

Apparently, she picked up on it, but thankfully, she misread my emotions.

"She's not really that bad." She said as an apology. "Caught up in what is right and what is near, but other than that, she is quite honored in this neighbourhood."

I played along. "She made me carry garden bricks." I said in a flat tone.

Olena laughed. "Oh, well, you couldn't expect an old woman to carry that, could you?"

I shrugged. "She could have helped."

"None the less, she is a good woman and wants to help you in as many ways as possible. Dimitri would have wanted this for you. You should read the notes he had sent us! I think once it was eight, A4 pages worth of your adventures. We want to keep you safe."

I swallowed. I shouldn't have done this, but I could tell she was hurting inside, just by seeing me. I knew she could imagine us together, and it made her so upset. It was wrong to keep it from her.

"Do you miss him?" I croaked.

She nodded, not trusting her words.

I hugged her this time.

"He'll be alright," I whispered into her ear. "Wherever he is, he'll be alright."

That was as much truth as I could give her. He had probably moved on, just like he had said.

He made his choice.

There had been no mention of Dimitri from Adrian, or from Lissa. He had moved on. I tried not to think of that. I pushed it out of my head, but it was only replaced.

He had fought for me.

There was no knock at the door when Yeva walked through it and into the room, her eyes resting on me.

"You have not changed." Was all she said.

"Nice to see you too."

She glared at me before her eyes dragged to Olena. "Why has she not changed? You were supposed to-"

"Yeva! I have not arranged that yet."

"Then I shall." She looked at me. "Follow."

She walked towards the laundry room, and with a glance at Olena, I followed her. She locked the door behind us and sat me down in a chair she had placed in the middle on the room.

When she took out my ponytail and grabbed a pair of scissors off the table, I stood up and clutched my hair.

"What are you doing?"

"People in Russia know you, Rosemarie. You must be transformed if you want to stay transferred."

I just looked at her.

She sighed. "The news has gone around the world that the queen is dead, and your photo has been pasted on every surface they could find. We must change your face or they will find you. Everything from my hair to your eyebrow shape."

I winced. "I don't think so, brick lady."

She sighed impatiently. "Despite with you think, Dimitri would be disappointed if you were too die."

I winced again. "You know?"

She nodded.

"Now sit down, child. I have done this before."

Reluctantly, I sat down and closed my eyes. I didn't want to see this.


	4. Crisis

Physically, I was a totally different person. I wore colour contacts now; light blue was her colour of choice to make it look like I belonged when I didn't. I even got a spray tan a short while after that. She waxed my eyebrows into a new shape and threw my old make-up away and replaced it with a new one. She dyed my hair blonde, which, sadly, reminded me of Lissa's. I slipped into her head while Yeva worked at my hair. She was meant to be messaging the dye into my hair, but it felt more like she was starting a lawn mower.

"Okay, Liss, try again. Think of Christian. You want in his head. Just take yourself there. Close your eyes and imagine him there. Feel him. Make yourself believe that you are there."

Lissa could hear Adrian's soothing voice as he tried to instruct her, again, to walk into Christian's dreams. Christian hadn't loved the idea of him falling asleep as she trained, but she couldn't be sure if I was asleep or not, since she had no idea which country I was in. Christian was lying unconscious on the ground, snoring slightly. He didn't look very comfortable.

Lissa closed her eyes and pictured herself with Christian, holding hands as his arms were wrapped around her. I mentally rolled my eyes at her.

She was trying so hard to make this work in the hope she could talk to me, she wasn't breathing. She could feel herself get red in the face, and when she finally breathed out, she wasn't where she was before.

We were in a garden with apple trees around us. It was very odd, but where we were wasn't the problem. I was starring at Lissa, and her back at me.

"Rose? What have you done?"

I was slapped out of her head and into mine again. I was breathing as hard as she had been after she had held her breath. Yeva looked at me oddly, and then seemed to realize what was going on. I suppose she was good friends with Oksana and Mark after all.

"Well that was odd." I said, mostly to myself.

Yeva smiled. "How is Lissa?"

I turned my head to look at her. She wasn't touching my head anymore. It was wrapped in cling wrap now. Twenty minutes was set on the timer.

"More than fine, I think. I guess I'll talk to her tonight."

She raised her eyebrows. "That's quite dangerous…for the both of you."

I sighed. "Long story short. She managed to dream walk."

Yeva's eyes widened. "I have heard many stories from Oksana about what she can do. Dream walk was not one of those things."

I shrugged. "Adrian can do it. She learned so she could talk to me."

Yeva changed the subject completely for some strange reason.

"I have cut your hair _only a little_ to neaten it out. You're a blonde, and your name is Anastasia Belikov. You were born in Baia and have trained in an American academy, _not Saint Vladimir,_ for all your life, since your _mother_ didn't approve of you being a guardian. Now you are back and experiencing everything you missed out on."

I clapped sarcastically. "Great." I dragged out.

She slapped me over the back of my head.

"OW!" I complained. "What was _that_ for?"

She shrugged. "I'm guessing I will have to do that often. Just thought I'd get a head start."

I stared at her in shock.

"Now go wash this stuff out of your hair. Tonight, we have guests."

I was insisted to wear one of Viktoria's dresses, which felt wrong. She had never really forgiven me for breaking up her date back then, and it just felt weird borrowing stuff that she would never let me use if she were here.

"She won't even realize when she gets back," Olena had told me.

Yeva dragged me into the dining room, made her 'final touches' then made me look in the mirror. I was so pretty! It was sickening. The blonde, straight cut hair looked all wrong, and the darker coloured make up looked like I had a fake tan under really awful make up covering that was way too light the way that Yeva had put it on.

This was it. This was going to be my life for a while. Hiding, again. Looking, again. Hurt, again. And, in a stick situation that I didn't need to be in.

I stood up and turned around. "Really? No, I'm sorry. This has just gone on for too long. I can't do this anymore."

I headed up towards the stairs, my mood had been drained. Olena walked quickly after me. She stopped me at the foot of the stairs and tilted my chin with her cold, fully manicured hand.

"What's going on with you, Roza?"

It was like another slap every time she used that word.

I sighed. "I can't do this. What's my life gonna be after all this is through? More mistakes that aren't mine? But, as usual, they'll continue to include me in the most horrible way. Lissa will have a good life. She'll go to college, and just…be happy. And I'll have to pretend that I am too, just so she doesn't get anxious.

"And then after that? After the mistakes? My life is going to be in danger twenty four seven. I can't be with whoever I want. No one if the court still rules at that point.

"I've always wanted this. But, Olena…maybe I just don't see my life as being a Guardian anymore. I just wanna be…free."

She was looking at me with such sympathy in her eyes. She knew what I saw. All this trouble, Dimitri had probably told her in the letters, to me in this short space of time. It was getting to be too much for me.

I had told myself that so long as Dimitri was here by my side, everything would be alright. He was back, and he still wasn't there.

He made his choice.

"And without Dimitri and Lissa by my side…I just don't see the point in hiding from this anymore. Something has to change, and I tried to be it, but it's not me. It's something, someone else."

She flinched when I had said Dimitri's name, but she kept her cool. She wrapped her arms around me.

"Oh Roza," she sighed. A tear leaked from my eye, but I caught it without her knowing, and quick enough for it not to ruin the make up anymore than Yeva had done.

"Dimitri would be proud of you," she told me. She was way off, but she didn't know the new Dimitri Belikov. "You're so brave, so strong, and you know what has to be done. You'll do it, eventually. These things just take some time."

I nodded.

She continued. "If he were still here, I know he would help you through this."

"How can you be so sure?" I asked in a more firm voice. "Maybe he's changed."

She shook her head, although she had a small smile placed on her face. "No matter how much Dimitri changes, he'll always want you. Always. No matter how much he tries to deny it. He only does what he thinks is best. Through life and death."

I really wished that was true.

I decided to head up stairs, with Yeva's permission of course, to take off the make up and replace it with a better coat. I stared into the sink for a moment, resting against either side of the bowl with my hands. I thought I would throw up, all that commotion. But I stayed strong, in the end.

I closed my eyes and let my mind slip into Lissa's. All plans to go to her new academy had been put on hold since there was a dangerous killer on the loose. Apparently, it was decided that Lissa should remain there until I was either killed or retained.

My heart clenched as I saw her in a large room with Dimitri, Christian and Mia. They were all sweating madly, but Dimitri was the less severe case. Lissa was gasping to catch her breath.

"That was some nice work, Liss." Christian commented to her.

Dimitri had already caught his breath, not that he was out any, and nodded his head.

"It isn't easy for someone who hasn't run that hard before to run six laps. Now, lets see if we can get you to run seven _non stop_ next week."

She groaned.

He had never given me that much of a complement when we were training, and that wasn't one of the best in the world. Why was he going so easy on her? Smiling with her? He had never done that to me before. Seeing that made me want to sulk.

Dimitri looked into Lissa's eyes with a smile, but it dropped as he found something.

"Rose?"

I snapped back out of her head, just like before. I stumbled, catching myself on the counter top, clutching my head with a serious headache. I groaned and reached for some of the penicillin from within the drawer and dry swallowed it.

That was absolutely horrible.

But he had seen me.

How?

I grasped the rail as I walked down the stairs again, the pain in my head not fading. I had somehow been able to reapply my make up, and when I sat in one of the chairs, I rested my head on the soft napkin.

"Roza? Are you alright?" Olena's worried voice came from the doorway.

"Call Oksana." I gasped in a plea. "Please."

Olena wasted no time. She grabbed the phone, dialed the number, then handed me the phone. She stood behind me, hoping she could get some information into her worried head about what happened to me.

"Hello?" there was a pleasant greeting.

I tried to manage a normal voice, and failed. "Oksana. I need your help."

"Rose? What's going on? Are you alright? Where's Olena?"

"She's right here. I was inside Lissa's head, and D- Christian looked into her eyes and saw me. He said my name and I was snapped out of her head, and now I have this killer headache. I was fine before." I explained.

She gasped. "He saw you?"

I made out an affirmative hum.

"I'll be right over. I think I can help."

I grunted. "Thank you."

"Ca you pass the phone to Olena please?"

I was more than happy too, and once I could stop pretending, I put my head back on the table and breathed in deeply. I couldn't make out what Olena was saying into the phone, my pulse was pounding in my ears.

But I remember scratching myself on the head before I passed out.


	5. DAMN IT

My breathing was becoming shallow with the pain. My heart rate had reached more than one hundred and eighty, and the damn headache was there. I was on the floor, writhing in pain. What the fuck was happening to me?

Oksana walked through the door quickly, and when she saw where I was, she ran faster and knelt by my side. From her hand, she pressed a cold, hard object to the temples of the head and the pain faded quickly. I gasped for breath, clutching the object to my head like it was the one thing that could save my life. I would never let it go.

She lifted my neck slightly to place a necklace around my throat, with another hard thing hanging from it. The pain was almost completely gone now, and she sat there with her hands in her lap, watching me. All I needed to do now was catch my breath.

"Rose, how do you feel?" Oksana asked.

I sat up, using my free hand to pull myself up. Oksana's hands hovered over me, looking for someway to help, slightly shaking.

"Fine, now." I told her. "What was that?"

She didn't shrug, but she didn't know.

She pushed me down gently with her hand. "I'm going to try and remove the charms, okay? Tell me as soon as the pain comes back."

I nodded, and she unclasped my hand from the pendant. No pain. She took the necklace chain off before removing the pendant. I started to cough up my guts, and my headache started to come back, but I could tell it wasn't as severe as before.

She quickly gave me the charm back. "I want you to keep this on for a couple of days, Rose. And please, don't go sneaking into Lissa's head, especially when Christian's around. Or anyone else. Please?"

I nodded as she helped me up.

"Fuck," I gasped. "Nothing compares to that."

I took a couple of breaths.

"Fuck!"

Yeva had been standing in the doorway, apparently, because even though I had just even though the worst pain of my life, she had clipped me over the head again.

"Swearing is disgusting and inappropriate." She told me harshly. "You will not do it in this household."

Fuck.

"Do you know how your friend is?" Oksana asked.

"You just told me not to do it!"

"This is the only circumstance for now. How is she?"

I closed my eyes and let my head slip into hers.

As was breathing deeply on the floor, staring at the ceiling. Yeah, she had gone through it. I sighed in relief that she was okay.

I slipped back out of hers and into mine again.

"She's fine. She got the headache too, but it was only half of what I got."

Oksana seemed relieved.

"We will have to go through what you did later tomorrow. For now, have some dinner. Be comfortable. And _please-_"

"No going into Lissa's head until further notice. I got it."

She smiled when she handed me the other object. "You should be fine with one, but just in case, take this one too. Take it everywhere you go."

I nodded. "Thank you."

She smiled.

What the fuck was happening to me? God, I was sick of this now.

It took a while for them to get here, the guests that I didn't know. They were all quite young, but not sixteen young.

Twenty four young.

After meeting so many people here, and not seeing them again, the faces blur together, and all I could think of when I saw them was Dimitri.

He made his choice.

All the time, that voice was still in my head, but it was always counteracted.

He had fought for me.

"Roza? Roza?"

I shook my head and squinted, snapping out of my zone out. I had been staring at the four of them. My bad.

Olena smiled when she saw I had come back to my senses.

"Rose, this is Denis," Olena pointed to a tall man with short, sexy black hair and a winning smile. "Sergei," she pointed to a tall man, shorter than Denis, with dark brown, longish hair. Like Adrian, his smile was always pulled into a semi smirk. "Eduard," she pointed to the shortest guy of the four, his striking blue eyes capturing all my attention. "And Yakov." The last one, the tallest of the three, with muscles bigger than I have ever seen without going overboard.

I smiled genuinely. "Hey."

Olena paid attention to me, pausing to choose her words carefully. "Roza, these are Dimitri's academy friends."

It was a blow to the stomach. All the air I had breathed in came out in a cough of surprise. The men laughed.

"_This_ is the little girl who stole Dimka's heart? How much did he change when he moved to America?" Denis asked in disbelief, shaking his head as if he was disappointed.

Suddenly, my throat dried up and I sized myself to him. "Who are you calling little? I have done more when I was in school than any other Dhampir in history, and you're calling me _little_? And yes, if it wasn't for Dimitri, I would have died."

Denis smiled. "Ah, never mind. First impressions are always wrong, in my opinion."

"You're the one in trouble with the Court?" Sergei asked in a deep voice.

I was instantly on defense. "I didn't do it!"

Sergei took a step back. "Yep, definitely Dimitri's."

I rolled my eyes.

"But you don't look like the pictures." Yakov was next to talk.

My neck snapped up. "Pictures?"

Denis and Sergei had both rammed him in the ribs with their elbows.

"Never mind." Yakov choked out.

"_What pictures_?"

Olena sighed. "Dimitri sent me a couple of photo's of you and him, and I let them see them."

She was still flinching at the sound of her son's name, which looked like she was having a seizure where she stood in this conversation.

My mouth was in the shape of an 'o'.

Yeva walked into the room from the kitchen, presenting us with a roast chicken. She set it in the middle of the table before Olena stepped in and carved it.

"Denis, Sergei, Eduard and Yakov all work as combat instructors at the academy now." Olena told me. "They're the only one who knows about this…situation at the moment. The only four people you can trust when all goes wrong."

"When?" I questioned.

She shrugged. "I like to be prepared for the worst, so we can live the best."

That actually made a lot of sense to me, like preparing for a fight. Carrying your stake around can have a massive difference to your mood.

We ate dinner in chatter, mostly from the guys. They talked about what they have been doing since they graduated, and I was very interested. I knew when they were talking about 'jobs' that they were glamorizing it, just like the rest of the guardians would. It is the only way to sleep at day.

Olena and Yeva walked into the kitchen with our dirty dishes after dinner, and I was left in privacy with the guys.

"So how have you been, Roza?" Denis asked me.

I shrugged. "I'm running for my life, again."

"And how's Dimitri?"

My head shot up. "Dimitri? You don't know? He's…"

"Alive." Denis told me in a bored tone, though it wasn't impolite.

"He's dead." I argued. "I killed him."

Denis shook his head as the gang watched us. "No, I don't think so. We only got a call from him yesterday asking if you were here." Well this was interesting.

"Really?"

Denis nodded. "Yep. Of course, Mazur would have our necks if we told him you were."

"Yeah," Eduard chimed in for the first time. "We sent him on a wild goose trail in Texas."

"So he's looking for me? Why? Did he say?"

Denis studied me suspiciously. "You are his lady love, are you not? I'm sure if Alex was in your situation, I'd be looking for her twenty four seven."

The thing that sucked about Dimitri not loving me was that I couldn't dig for as much information as I could.

"Why?" he asked. "Is something going on?"

Well, they were to trust, right? "He doesn't love me anymore; no matter how many times people say he is."

All four guys frowned.

"That's why you flinch every time some one says his name, right?" Sergei guessed.

I nodded. "After he was turned back, he said his love had faded. It wasn't there anymore."

"Well he sounded pretty anxious on the phone, if that helps." Denis offered. "I just can't believe it was Dimitri who did this. He was voted less likely to love, but we all knew once he had it, he wouldn't let go."

"Well that's changed," I said softly. I took a deep breath and counted in my head. "And I have to focus."

The all nodded. "Welcome to the club, Roza."

Lying in Dimitri's bed, the smell was gone. This could just be anyone else's room now. There was no snuggling in arms anymore. No whispers in my ear. With his sense, everything else died. I grew weak and tired of pretending. I had to go back to the court. I had to see what was going on, and without slipping into Lissa's head again, I didn't know what else there was.

Screw it, I was going to see her. Despite the consequences.

I closed my eyes and slipped into Lissa's thoughts. I winced, ready for the pain, or the slap, but neither came after a moment, and I relaxed in relief. When I came out, though, that might change.

Dimitri sighed and shut his phone off.

"Texas? What were they thinking! I've searched everywhere! Of course they wouldn't know where she is. No one else does!"

He heaved himself down onto his bed, placing his head in his hands.

Lissa had been there for support, since he needed a lot of that from her lately. She crawled up beside him and placed a hand on his back in a friendly gesture.

"It'll be okay. Maybe we shouldn't be looking as hard as we are. There's a reason why we don't know where she is."

He sighed. "Maybe. I just wish I could tell her how sorry I am. I was such a jerk, and I'm still disgusted in myself for what I've done."

"You still love her?" Lissa asked.

I tensed. This would decide it. If he loved me, if was lying, I could die happy.

But I would never know what he said. I was dragged back to my own world by Olena shaking me.

"Rose! ROSE!"

I blinked. "Whoa! What?"

She gulped. "There's someone inside."

Nausea rolled over me.

"Stay here. Strigoi."


	6. the sacrifice just not the last

My stake was growing warmer and warmer in my hand with my body heat as I ran down the stairs, going in complete battle mode.

Distraction.

If this Strigoi was anything to worry about, he would take into account everything we had learned in school. That would be my first sign. Distraction. Once I saw him, I would be fine. But at the moment, all I saw was the sunrise. If I could get him outside, I could burn him with the sun. If I took enough time.

"The famous Rosemarie Hathaway," a Strigoi ghosted within the walls. I couldn't see him, but as he talked, I could get a general direction of where he was.

"A bit risky, don't you think?" I talked back. "The sun's almost up."

"And you will die before it does."

Distraction. He was talking to me, distracting me. He was one to worry about, but it was nothing I couldn't handle.

"And how's Dimitri going?"

I flinched, and he took that as his distraction. He pounced onto my back, but I was quicker. I ducked and swooped in and around. I pushed him off me with the force to send us both backwards on the ground.

We both stumbled to stand up quickly, not wanting the disadvantage of being on the ground when the final strike was blown.

He was quicker than me, but not so much to get another strike. I ducked under his arm as he tried to throw a punch and stabbed him in the back with my stake, not killing him, but causing a heck of a lot of pain. He fell to the ground.

I kicked him so he rolled over, exposing his chest, and I pushed the stake through his heart.

He squirmed for a moment, then died.

Such a waste. They could be saved. Dimitri had proven that. But no action had gone into it yet. Dimitri was still under supervision, even though it was loose, it was still there.

I checked my senses. No other Strigois in the area. None would be stupid enough.

I dragged the body out into the back yard, and didn't take my eyes off of him until he was a burning pile of ashes. I had made the mistake of not killing them properly before.

Did I really want to make that mistake again?

Olena had been watching through the upstairs window, so when she walked down and patted me on the back, I didn't need to turn around to know who was there.

"This is getting ridiculous." I told her.

"He knew who Dimitri was." She said. I looked at her. Thank god I hadn't said anything to give it away. She had been eavesdropping.

"That's not the worst of our problems," I informed her. "Of course they knew him, _know_ him." I corrected. "But with that risk? That certainty I would be there? They know where I am. If I'm seen you any of you, it could be catastrophic.

"They're working wit the person who wants to kill me."

"What do we do now?" she asked.

I sighed. "We go on with our lives. Go back to sleep. It's been a long day for all of us. And tomorrow night, I get out of here, and you hide somewhere safe."

I walked towards the back door, but her words stopped me. "You were looking into her head again, weren't you? Lissa's?"

"Good night Olena." Was all I said.

I walked upstairs and into Dimitri's room again. I closed my eyes to think for a moment, but I could feel my mind slipping again. I let it slip, and I was with Dimitri again.

"I need to call my mother. This is just getting insane. I'll give it five minutes."

He stood up from the bed, but Lissa tried to push him down. "No! You know what Abe said! They can't know, Dimitri! They just can't!"

"It's the only way I'd know if she was in Russia. And if she wasn't, no harm done."

"And if she is?"

"Then we've found her." His answer was simple.

Lissa starred into his eyes. "And when we find her? Then what? Great, she's in such-and-such, what do we do then?"

Dimitri's eyes squinted.

"I contact her." He said slowly, still squinting. "I help her find whoever it is who is trying to kill her, and then with everything else in her life. I tell her I-"

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

CRAP! He saw me, I was sure of it. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

I had to pull myself out of there. I didn't need to be caught again with the headache, and not just because I wanted to avoid getting into trouble. But I had both charms. I needed to try it.

Would it make a difference?

"Because she's here." He said slowly. "In your eyes."

"You said that before." She told him.

"And it led you to the most serious headache you have ever had. But I can see her."

Don't say my name. Don't say my name.

"Why you? What does it look like?"

"You're eyes just…change." He tried to explain. "Not their colour, but their….depth. She's listening."

"Rose is here?" she whispered intensely. "Rose? Rose? Are you there?"

I wanted to say something. Anything to her. I had the strangest thought.

I willed her to say yes. I tried pushing all my mind towards hers, imagining her saying it.

And I got nothing.

Dimitri's eyes lit up.

"Rose?"

I was snapped out of her head and back into the bed. My headache was dim enough to ignore, though I knew it would be worse if I took off the charms. It had lasted longer, too. That was a plus.

I breathed carefully.

Five minutes. Shit.

I ran out of the room, only barely opening the door in time for me to get out. I ran down the hall, and when I got to the stairs, I jumped down six, then eight more too the ground. I stumbled for a moment, but quickly caught my ground and bounded towards the kitchen.

The phone rang, and Olena was just about to pick it up when I came through the door.

"Stop!" I said to her loudly. She looked to me in shock, and as I moved towards the phone, on its fourth ring now, she stepped away. I caught my breath, then answered the phone in my best accent.

"Belikov residence." I sounded somewhere between a bad Italian and an American.

There was a pause. "Yeah, hi, is Olena Belikov around?"

I tried not to let my heart take over. It was his soothing voice, nothing like I had seen with Lissa. Just knowing that I could let him know I was here…it was amazing.

"Ah, no, sorry." I said before clearing my throat. "Can I take a message?"

There was another pause. "I'm sorry, who is this?"

"American exchange student." I said quickly, easing my accent up slowly, but still pretending to sound like someone else. "I am Rosetta. Rosetta Montgomery. And you are?"

"Dimitri Belikov." He said in an unsure voice.

"Oh! I thought you were –" my plan was busted, since Olena was standing right next to me, looking at me with a mixture of unsure insanity and worry. "Gone."

"No. See, that's what I'm calling about-"

"Oops! Sorry! Got to go! Bye!"

I slammed the phone down. I leaned against the wall in a huff.

"What's going on?" she asked.

I looked to her. "Nothing you need to worry about, but make sure you're packed."

She paused. "I called Abe." She informed me. "He's arranged a flight for you on his personal jet. We withdrew your academy application. I know you know we have to go, but I just wanted to make sure this was alright with you. The Strigoi…I know he messed up everything. And I know how you're feeling.

"I'm so sorry."

I looked towards her. "None of this is your fault." I told her. "Go back to bed. I think I'll stay up for a couple of minutes more, just to…gather my thoughts."

She nodded sympathetically then headed up the stairs with a quiet goodnight. As soon as she was out of earshot, I pulled out my mobile from my pocket and called Lissa's cell, a risky but necessary thing to do.

She picked up first ring. It was obvious that she had seen the caller ID.

"Hello? Rose?"

I sighed. "Lissa, you need to listen quickly. Dimitri must not let his folks know he is alive. That could be dangerous for everyone."

"But, he just called…that was you, wasn't it? The creepy American exchange student? You're staying with the Belikov's."

"Not for long." I told her in a hurried whisper. "I need to move. Tomorrow. We were attacked, and any preparations have gone down the tubes. He can't contact them in any way. They won't be here if he does, and the last thing I need is Dimitri in Russia. They want him almost as bad as they want me."

"Have you found anything?"

I sighed. "No. I'm getting there, Lissa, you know I am. But I need to talk to Adrian, is he anywhere close?"

"No." she answered.

"then after I hang up, you find him and tell him to talk to me in my dreams. Hurry, it's important."

She sniffled. "Okay."

"And Lissa?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you, girl. Don't try to ring this phone."

"I've let you down, haven't I?" she croaked.

"No! No, Liss, you could never let me down."

"Then why does it sound like you're saying goodbye?"

I sighed. "I lost sight on what's really important, Liss. I have to set it straight. And I'm not entirely sure if its gonna work. And if it doesn't…"

"If it doesn't?"

I took a deep breath in. "I'm sorry Lissa."

"NO! RO-"

I hung up, placing the phone on the table. I walked around the kitchen quickly, grabbing the kettle, and then smashing the phone with it.

I could sense that Lissa was crying loudly in her room, and that she could hear people coming to see what was wrong. I pushed her out of my head. I had to do this.

Once again, I walked back up to Dimitri's room and fell asleep, praying that I could get my suspects straight.

There was no way I could find anyone hiding out with people protecting me.

I would have to run away to get anything done.

**Hey Everyone!**

**Lauren here.**

**I am thrilled with the reviews I have gotten for this story and I would like to thank each and every one of you for the reviews! Some of the best ones I have ever got from a story! I love you all!**

**Sorry about the mistakes I put in this story. I write it quite quickly as I get caught up in the story, and being me, is too careless to read it again. I like to think about what happens next, rather than what happened before.**

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**Thanks you all for your support!**

**Lauren**


	7. Dreams are 4 the living

Adrian.

"You called me, little Dhampir."

I smiled despite myself. I walked towards him and put my arms around him. Technically, we were still dating. Dimitri didn't want me anymore. Adrian was the greatest guy in the world, because of that.

He looked a little shocked, but played along and hugged me as hard as he could, although neither of us could really feel anything. We were both dreaming after all.

"Is that all you wanted?" he asked behind my back.

I sighed and stepped out of his arms. "No. I just wanted to know how the leads are going? Have you found anything?"

"If I had, I would have told you ages ago. I'm sorry, Rose, I really have been trying."

"I didn't expect anything else. But I thought that we could narrow it down. Maybe you would have a few ideas on who would do this? Someone who has access to Strigoi."

He thought for a moment. "You're not going to like this, but when I think access to Strigoi, I think of Belikov."

I shook my head. "No, its not him. We were attacked. Did Lissa tell you? They knew Dimitri, but it was obvious he wanted to kill him too."

"Maybe he was acting." He suggested.

I rolled my eyes. "I know how to detect a liar, Adrian. Trust me, he wasn't."

He thought again. "Victor?"

"That's one." I agreed. "Avery?"

He frowned. "Isn't she locked up?"

I shrugged. "There are ways."

"Then we'll put her on the maybe list. Did you meet any new…friends while you were in Russia?"

"Not any significant ones that would go to this length to kill me." I said. "So Victor and Avery. Is that all we can narrow it down to?"

"Don't you think they're acting on impulse? According to Dimitri, you made some pretty awful friends when you were in 'that place'. Clue me in?"

"You really don't wanna know."

"I think I do."

I shook my head at him. "Don't push the envelope, Adrian."

He sighed.

"But long stories short, all the Strigoi in Russia are trying to kill me. Dimitri started the game, they'll finish it."

"I won't let him." He said suddenly.

I laughed. "You're too far away to stop them."

"So tell me where you are. I'll come. I'll make sure no one follows me. I'll keep you safe."

"I don't need anyone keeping me safe, and so long as they are, I can't get closer. I can't move from where I am. If I find a lead in Italy, I can't just jet over there."

Adrian stopped for a moment, stopped moving entirely, like he was considering something very serious. When he opened his mouth, it made sense to me.

"They framed you here. They would have needed to get past all those guards…better yet _in the court_. Don't you think they would already be in? They wouldn't send someone to do this part of the crime. It's too risky for that, and they would need to get it right first time."

I frowned in thought. "What are you saying? They're already _in_ the court?"

He shrugged. "I'm guessing. And I'm also guessing their trying to pin it on you in as many ways as possible."

"No shit, Sherlock. That might have something to do with my stake they left sticking out of her chest."

He sighed at my sarcasm. "I'm not just talking about that. I'm guessing its someone who leads a group of people, who is so insistent that you did it, who is influencing others."

I nodded. I understood completely. "But that could be anyone. They all believe I did it, and they're all trying to spread it."

He sighed. "True dat."

I didn't let the strike end. "But we have something to work on. Keep an eye out? Tell Lissa and anyone else who it may concern?"

He nodded. "Of course."

I would have smiled in less anxious times. "Thanks, Adrian. It means a lot."

"It means your _life_." He corrected lightly.

I didn't see the joke. I sighed.

"Everything is what my life depends on nowadays."

"We're staying here?"

Olena saw the alarm in my eyes. "It's just for a few more days."

"And what happens when everything goes wrong? It always does." I warned.

She breathed in. "I don't like depending on you too much, Roza," _Slap! _"But if we get attacked again within the next four days, then we move. Otherwise, we stay here until further notice."

I sighed. "You know I don't like the sound of that."

"I know. But don't argue with me. It's your father you should take this up with."

I closed my eyes, but opened them quickly when I heard the screen door slam.

Olena sighed. "Silly wind."

"This isn't something to muck about with."

She turned to me. "Roza, I would never let anything happen to you. You know that, right? If I thought it was a bad idea, we wouldn't be here right now."

"I bet I can find more cons than pros in this situation."

She placed her hands on her hips. "Rose, please?"

"Do you actually care if they kill you?"

"I'm not worried about myself, Rose. Dimitri would never forgive me if anything happened to you."

It took me longer than necessary to shoot back at her, and it was hitting below the belt, I know. But it was necessary, I thought at the time anyway.

"Dimitri's dead." I said harshly.

She flinched, a tear running down her cheek.

"I'm not him! But I don't need to be protected in every way he wasn't. I can take care of myself."

She turned away from me, and I instantly felt bad.

"I'm sorry, but it's true. I can handle everything myself-"

"That's exactly how Dimitri got himself killed!" she shouted at me.

"No," I corrected. "Dimitri knew he had to rely somewhat on others, but when he went into battle, it was by himself mentally, and almost physically. But he was never alone! Not for one minute! He couldn't do what he needed to get himself out of there! He was thinking of others, just like he normally did.

"I'm not saying that I don't want people protecting me, but I want them _hiding_ me, not making a prisoner of me. And no offense, but you're not a guardian! You couldn't protect me if you wanted too! If I die, we all die, and that's the hard truth."

She leaned against the kitchen counter, her eyes closed and thinking through her tears that were now drying up.

"You're right. I couldn't protect you," she whispered. "But you can't do this alone, Roza."

"I know that too. I just need…space. I need to figure out what is going on myself, not just allowing others to do it." I told her calmly.

She nodded. "I understand that too." She sighed. "Fine, Rose, but can you promise me one thing?"

I nodded. "Anything."

"You wait until daytime, and if I tell you to bring someone particular, you do it. You understand?"

I smiled. "Sure."

She smiled too. "Excellent."

She was happy…too happy.

I didn't expect to see Adrian in my dreams again the next night. The day had just flown past, and it was strange, almost if it was one after the other, to see Adrian in my dreams.

But that wasn't what shocked me the most. A lot of things shocked me that night. I didn't know which one was more surprising, but I knew which the worst was.

"The Court was attacked?"

Adrian nodded grimly. "Yeah, well, they tried at least. They couldn't get very far with all the wards set around the place, but it was still a serious fight. Most retreated after the third ward was broken. No Strigoi has been in the Court before. I guess they weren't thinking about the people _inside_."

"Thank god they weren't." I corrected Adrian's tone. "Is everyone okay? Is Lissa-? Oh god, please tell me she's okay."

He shrugged. "Why don't you ask her yourself?"

I stared at him for a moment, and then Lissa walked through the surrounding trees.

"Liss?"

She saw me, and grinned in pure happiness. "ROSE!" she ran up to me and tackled me in a hug that neither of us felt. "Oh, my god. I'm so sorry, Rose!"

"It's not your fault." I assured her.

She buried herself in my arms and cried a little as I looked over the top of her to talk to Adrian.

"Why did they attack the Court? What did they want?"

He shook his head. "You really don't want to know that, Rose, trust me."

I frowned. "Of course I do!"

He sighed. "Fine, but you asked for it."

I nodded, encouraging him to continue. He looked towards Lissa, closed his eyes, and sighed.

"You. They wanted you."

Lissa gasped a little, but it was obvious she had heard this news before.

"How do you know that?"

"Dimitri told us." I breathed in a little too hard, not that he noticed. "He was in fight, despite what Lissa told him about last time. He managed to get it out of one of them that they heard you were being held captive here, totally defenseless by your own accord. We couldn't get who he was working for, though. We were running short on time."

"I'm so sorry, Rose." Lissa took her head about my hands and stared at me. "I'm so sorry."

"Lissa! You didn't do anything!"

"YES I DID!"

I frowned. "This isn't your fault."

She nodded. "Yeah, I know that."

"Then what-" I paused. "What did you do?"

She sniffled. "I let him go, Rose. Dimitri's on his way to see his parents."


	8. Trouble maker Dimitri

Shit.

No! Dimitri couldn't be coming! Abe had told him not to even let his parents know he was alive…

Shit.

"Lissa?"

She looked to me, a single tear running down her already stained face.

"When did he leave?"

She shrugged. "A couple of hours ago. We were thinking about the about the attack. He said something to me, and I was so scared. I'm sorry, Rose. I told him. I told him to go to his house. I'm sorry! I thought you'd be gone by now!"

"What did he say?"

She sniffled. "He said something like…'their only a few days behind if they knew about it so soon. They'll know where she is before us.' What was I supposed to say? I told him where you were. I wanted him to protect you!"

This was news to Adrian too. He was quiet, for once. He was so silent, it was kind of scaring me. Of course, he was just finding out where I was.

"When was the fight?" I asked Adrian.

"Three days ago."

I took a double take. "You didn't tell me about that until right now?"

Adrian shrugged. "We all had a lot on our minds, and honestly, what could you do?"

**CRAP! **

"So he'd be on a plane right now, right?"

They both nodded.

I took a moment to think it through.

It was obvious I would have to get Olena out of the house. But how would Dimitri act when he walked into an empty room? No. I had to get her out. This was serious stuff. Did he seriously think the Strigoi wouldn't follow him!

"Loosely translated, the information traveled along with the attack. That's how they knew where I was. It was a guess at first, I'm guessing. Lucky bastards." I kicked myself mentally.

"What do we do?" Adrian asked.

I sighed. "Why does everyone keep asking me that? I don't know!"

We were all hopeless.

"So he comes to Russia. What's the worst that could happen? His parents know that their only son is alive? What's the bad in that?" Lissa asked innocently.

I sighed and pressed myself against a tree.

"Everyone is going to follow him, Liss. The Strigoi already figured out where I am. Now the court isn't far behind. They'll kill me quicker than I can explain. I didn't even find who was out to kill me."

"Actually, Christian did say something…" Lissa said to me. I looked up instantly. She saw the spotlight was on her and swallowed. "Christian…saw someone. In the battle. He wasn't fighting, peruse, but he was at the back. He looked like…"

We waited for a moment, but Lissa didn't say anything. We pushed her along and it popped out of her mouth.

"Victor."

I smiled and shook my head in disbelief. "How in god's green earth did he get an army of Strigoi?"

She shrugged. "All I want to know is how to kill him."

I smiled, but it faltered. "Wait. If the information came here…what type of transport do you think it took?"

They looked at me like I was insane. "This isn't time for riddles, Rose." Adrian argued.

"No! Think about it. Do you really think Victor just piled a heap of Strigoi into a jet and flew them over here? The one that attacked me had a Russian accent. The Strigois wouldn't move. But he would."

"You think Victor's in Russia?"

I nodded. "I'm sure of it."

I needed to relax. So Victor was in Russia coming to kill me, along with the Court, although they wouldn't get here in time. I only just found out, its not like it will happen right away, right? Right?

Shit.

I dragged my feet down the stairs and rounded the corner into the kitchen. I searched the lounge room and the laundry room, but she was no where too be seen. I sighed and went back into the kitchen to make my breakfast. More cereal. Yum.

I scratched my head and piece of paper fell from it and onto the ground. Confused, I picked it up.

Had she really stuck it to my forehead? Well, I guess that was the only sure place she knew I would look.

_Gone to get groceries_

_Will be back soon_

_OB_

I slouched in my chair with the spoon sticking out my mouth by itself as I read the note. Shrugging, I set it aside and plucked the spoon from my mouth and dipped it in the bowl of milk and cornflakes again.

There was a knock at the door, three of them, before I got the strength to go and see who it was. I was so lazy nowadays, it wasn't funny. But that might also have something to do with the fact I only woke up two minutes ago.

I grabbed my hoodie and put it on, covering half my face, like usual, before opening the door. My eyes weren't even half open really.

But they were when Dimitri was standing at the doorstep.

"D-! I mean, yes? How may I help you?"

His eyebrows were scrunched together. "Um…Rosetta? Right?"

I nodded. "Yes. How may I help you?"

"I'm Dimitri Belikov. Olena's son? Is my mother around?"

I hesitated. It has always been my worst asset. "No. She's gone shopping."

"Then I will wait for her."

"No!" I said too quickly. "I mean, I'm not allowed to let strangers into the house. She told me you were dead…you could be-"

"Have I met you before?" he asked suddenly, cutting me off.

I kicked myself internally.

"Fine, you can come in, but I'll make a call."

He walked into the house, knowing where everything was.

_This is the first time he has been in this house with me, _I thought suddenly. _It's so nice not having to kill him._

I moved swiftly into the kitchen and picked up the phone. He watched me carefully as he sat down on the table, his eyes squinting slightly. Could he hear my heart beating a hundred miles for him? I seriously didn't think so. His had never done the same.

He made his choice.

I dialed Abe's mobile as I walked around the corner, out of earshot.

"Hello?"

"Abe! You have to call Olena. Tell her she can't come home. Tell her there's been another attack." I whispered intensely.

"Rose?" he whispered back. "What's going on? Are you alright? Where are you?"

"I'm fine! But…Dimitri's in the kitchen right now."

"I TOLD HIM-!"

"I know!" I cut him off. "I can get him out of here. You just have to keep Olena away."

There was a pause. "Okay."

"Thanks."

I hung up quickly, slammed the door open, and head butted Dimitri so hard we both fell over. I groaned and rubbed my head.

"What the hell? When someone moves into a room when they are on the phone, it means they _don't_ want you knowing what they're talking about. It's none of your business anyway!"

He stood up quickly and offered me his hand. I denied it and stood up myself.

"Keep my mother away! What is going on?"

Nausea swept over me.

How many times did I have to swear today?

Just behind Dimitri's head, there was the wicked grin of a Strigoi. I breathed in, then breathed an almost silent command.

"Duck."

He heard me and instantly did it. I through my stake at the Strigoi, knowing it wouldn't be like one of those cool movies where it stabs them right in the heart. It didn't go in at all, but it caused the distraction. It might have burned him a little, though, but not enough to do any damage.

I ran towards the Strigoi, sliding under his grasp as he tried to grab me. I picked up my stake and sliced a deep cut into his ankle. He let out a screech and tried to kick me away, but I was quicker. I came around from the front, him noticing straight away.

"ROSE!" Dimitri screamed out. I saw him from the corner of my eye. He had meant to say Rosetta, but it seemed right to him that my name was Rose. His eyes widened.

The Strigoi had me on the ground now, hovering over me, trying to direct the stake away from his chest. He was trying to reach my neck.

"Any last words Rosemarie Janine Hathaway?" it hissed.

I nodded. "Rose Hathaway." I gasped.

It's eyes frowned. "Rose Hathaway?"

I kicked out his legs from underneath him and he came toppling on me, staking himself on impact. I helped ram it in, a pure shot. He went limp on top of me, and I pushed him aside so I could stand up.

Our blood mingled together. The stake had been semi sharp on the other end. It had cut a small circle in my chest which was bleeding freely. I ignored it.

Dimitri was in shock. He didn't talk. Heck, he may have not been breathing either.

I didn't expect him to run towards me and kiss me. I knew he didn't love me.

He made his choice.

"Roza." He breathed.

"Hmm?"

He stood still across the room. "You're-"

"I'm surprised, comrade. I would have thought you would figure out that I can't make up fake names on the spot. I thought maybe you knew me at least that much. I guess I was wrong."

I kicked the Strigoi into the fading sunlight, enough to burn him at least. We both stared at the pile of ashes.

Everything Dimitri and I had left.

**HEY!**

**Okay, so I have some bad news :(**

**I may not be able to post the next chapter tomorrow. Going around my grandmother's house for the night, and there is no way I would be able to write on her computer without some serious magic. I'll fight for it, but if I don't post tomorrow night, that's the reason and I'm sorry.**

**To make it up to you, I have left no cliff hanger on the end of this one (unless you seem obsessed with this story like most of the people who have commented. Love you guys!)**

**I almost started crying at this last bit. I knew I had to cut it there, just to be sort of evil ha-ha.**

**Thanks for sticking with me and I am open to any ideas about what should happen. I have an outline in my head, which I'm building up to, but ideas would be muchly appreciated. And if you want more fluff? Tell me you want fluff! Ha-ha**

**Lauren :)**


	9. He made his choice He fought for me

My hot chocolate was singeing my tongue and hands as I clutched the cup. Dimitri paced back and forth in front of me, trying to think of what to say. I tried to stay cool, pretending that I didn't care whether he was here or not. I _shouldn't_ have cared, but I did. The sight of him still made my heart flutter like a thousand humming birds.

He made his choice.

After a few moments of standing still to the left of me, he pulled up a chair and sat in front of me, his hands pressed together to his chin. He didn't say anything again, not like I had expected. I thought he would start with a big lecture about not telling him where I was and all that…but then again.

He made his choice.

I refused to look at him, staring deep into my hot chocolate, waiting for him to make the first move. Was it really that hard to say "What the hell, Rose."? It's not like I could tell him off for anything.

"So you are-" he began, cutting short to rethink his words.

I knew what he was going to say. "I _was_ staying here. Now thanks to your little stunt, I have to move country again!"

I slammed my now empty mug down on the table and pulled myself away from it. He caught me by the arm as I walked, spinning me around. I snatched my hand back.

"Don't touch me." I warned. "Do you think I _like_ moving around? Always on the run? Do you think that maybe I _don't_ want to just stay in the same place? Have friends that will always be close to me? You're wrong!"

Huh. Maybe I did have something to tell him off about.

"Roza…"

"No. Don't call me that. You knew where I was! You knew I had to be safe! What were you thinking? Did you honestly think that no one was watching you?"

"Rose." He said sternly, cutting me off. "If you'll let me explain…"

"No. I've had enough with everyone's _explanations_. You've screwed up, just like everyone else, and now, as always, _I_ pay for it."

I started too walked again, towards the staircase. He did not grab my arm this time, nor did he make any attempt to stop me. I reached the bottom of the staircase before he talked again.

"I needed to make sure you were safe. Was that so much to ask?"

I looked at him. "You've only made it worse."

I ran up the stairs, hearing his fast footsteps come up behind me. I turned into his room, making no effort to close the door. There was no lock on it anyway.

I dragged my suitcase out from underneath the bed.

As much as I hated this whole situation, I knew it would come sometime. I felt that this was my one chance to get out, to start finding these pricks who wanted to kill me. I slammed the suitcase onto the bed, took a large breath in, then opened the drawers and stuffed everything in carelessly.

Dimitri was at the door instantly.

"So what are you going to do?" he asked breathlessly, in a tone that suggested he hoped I had no answer. "Just run out of here? You called Abe, but he made no arrangements that you know about. I know that much."

I turned on him. "And if I do? If I just run out of here, totally unguided. Why would you even bother to care?"

"Roza…"

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" I felt the urge of tears brimming at my eyes, but I swallowed them down, only to be replaced by more. "I gave up everything for you! I quite school! I gave up on Lissa! I ran away! I was in danger _every second_ I went looking for you! But I thought it would be worth it. I thought that if I could get you back, all that pain and suffering would pay off."

I closed my eyes in an attempt to control myself. I gave up quickly.

"I was wrong thinking that everything would just go back to the way it was. I know now it won't be. Ever.

"When you said you wanted Lissa and not me, you killed me. You killed me repeatedly over those few months. But if I've learnt one thing through this… one thing…

"You can kill a person as many times as you want, but they will never come back more than once."

I turned away from him, embarrassed my the three tears that clung to my cheeks and chin. I continued stuffing my life into the suitcase, realising I only had a few more objects to place in there. I closed it with little effort, zipping it up quickly, then heaved it off the bed and rolled it down the staircase, leaving behind a shocked Dimitri.

I left the suitcase by the door and headed into the kitchen for my wallet. Dimitri ran down the stairs in a surprisingly calm manner, stopping when he saw I hadn't left yet.

He didn't need to say anything. Not anymore. We starred each other in the eyes for a moment before I broke it off and opened the front door.

"Rose-" he stopped me once again. "Please, Rose."

I let myself think. He wanted to explain, something that I had craved for such a long time. But did I really want it now? It was obvious how much trouble he had caused me, and it was true, I would always love him, but did I really want the explanation? Would it hurt?

He made his choice.

I sighed and turned to him. "What?" I said icily.

"I'm not good enough for you, Roza. I never have been, I never will be. I knew that. When I realised what I had done…all the people I killed…Rose I remembered the second best. I felt the….pleasure, that's what I remember, and it disgusted me. I knew it would disgust you too.

"I remembered all the pain I put you through, all the fear and guilt and sorrow, the best. I remember your face every time I walked into the room. You were scared, so scared. To think that I had put you through all of that willingly…" he placed a hand at the side of my neck and looked me deep in the eyes. There was nothing else then. Just him, me and touch.

"Lissa had seen into my mind, and I knew that if I couldn't have you, I would hold onto you in every way I could while denying I ever was. Lissa was my answer."

"You made your choice…" I breathed in a cry. "But you…it doesn't make sense. You…you fought for me…and me…"

"Put it together, Roza." He urged.

I swallowed, breathing deeply to calm myself. "You made your choice for me." I whispered. "You fought for me."

"And I always will. This is my choice, Roza. I love you. And I am never going to be deserving of you…I'll never make it up to you…but I'll keep trying."

The words I always wanted to hear were confusing me.

A new line played over in my head now.

_Did I really want to hear them?_

**Hey! So I got the chapter out tonight, and might I say, I am very tired right now. It is…10.09pm and the grandparents have gone to bed after watching Alvin and the Chipmunks for the first time. Trying not too much noise with the keyboard and all…**

**Anyway, its not what you want to hear, I know, Im sorry. But I'm curious to know what you wanted to happen. Her just to run into his arms after all that? Seriously? You may want that, but if I wrote that, it would be all wrong.**

**Sorry it's so short, as I said, im trying to keep it down in here. But I have to say…this is my favourite chapter so far. **

**Tell me what you think.**

**Nightie night!**

**Lauren**


	10. Naww

_Did I really need this?_

My heart had been taken over with my words. All I could think was that I wanted – no, needed – him. But those weren't the words that played on my tongue.

"I wish…" I mumbled. "I wish I never met you, or Adrian, or…anyone. I wish it was just me and Lissa again. It was hard, but at least it didn't drive me to insanity."

He looked at me in subtle shock. "You wish you never met me?"

He sounded so heart broken.

I sniffled. "I wish you'd never broken my heart." I mended.

I slammed the door open, dragging my suitcase out easily. I jabbed the key in the back of the Prado and opened the 'boot'. I shoved my belongings into the back and leaned against the door.

"Roza-"

I would have told him off again. I would have told him he could never see me again. He could go to his mother and live with her for the rest of his miserable life. But I couldn't say any of that. I wouldn't have meant it. I'd been lying to much these days anyway.

He placed a hand on my shoulder, and let me tell you, I lost it.

I ducked under his hand faster than you could blink and shoved his chest. He stumbled back into the house, looking at me with shock. He pushed himself off the house, a small dent now sat there. Tears streaked my face as I turned back to the Prado.

But my eyes didn't stay there for long. I turned back to him softly.

"This is driving me insane, Dimitri. Every turn I make, there's always something bad there. I thought I could handle it…but I just…I can't do that. I can't think straight. If you're around…you'll get it too. I don't want that for anyone."

"Dimka Belikova." A voice smiled.

I turned around to see Denis grinning as he came down the short stretch of road. I would have smiled at his expression when he saw me push Dimitri, but when he saw my face, his face instantly fell.

"I would have thought you would run into each others arms, the way that Dimitri was talking about you when he rang us up."

I slammed the back door shut. "Not in the mood, Denis."

He frowned. "You guys going somewhere?"

"Not him. Me. I'm doing my own thing from now on." I interrupted Dimitri's failed attempt at going with me.

He raised an eyebrow and looked at Dimitri. "And you're okay with this?"

"He doesn't have to be." I answered for him. "He doesn't own me."

I walked around the front of the vehicle and popped the front open. I filled the water in the windscreen wipers and checked to make sure the car was ready for quite a beating if necessary.

"A girl who knows what she's talking about when it comes to cars," Denis sounded impressed. "You know how to pick them, Dimka. To bad you don't know how to hold onto them."

I rolled my eyes and threw a dirty rag filled with greasy and other slimy substances into his face. He picked it off with two fingers and smiled at me. I couldn't help but smile back at him.

After slamming the bonnet down, I dusted off my hands.

"So where are we going?" Denis asked.

I stared at him. "I'm going alone, Denis. I'm going to drag you into this. Enough people want to kill me…if you're seen with me…"

"We're coming with you, Roza," Dimitri's voice was smooth but demanding.

I twirled around slowly. "Oh really? Don't you want to go see your mother? You made enough danger here; you could at least do what you wanted to do."

"I was here to see you, Roza. I'm sorry, but the attack on the court…they shouldn't have tried anything that risky. They wanted you. I couldn't help myself."

"Maybe you should have tried harder." I told him harshly. "It sounds like you gave up."

He nodded. "I did."

"Well this _is_ a lovely moment." Denis interrupted. "But we have to end it. We're coming with you, Rose."

"And if I get killed? If I die? I know both of you well enough to know that you wouldn't just say 'stuff it' if you saw me die. I'm not going to kill anymore people."

"Anymore?" Denis raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't kill her!" I yelled.

"Whatever." He held his hands up, palms facing forward.

Dimitri's eyebrows buried together, a bad sign when your hiding something. I avoided his eye contact, keeping my eyes on Denis.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "You're not trying to kill this person at all, are you?"

I kicked myself mentally. "What makes you say that?"

"I know you, Roza. What's going on? What else is there?"

"I know who did it, okay?" I burst out. "Dashkov. Somehow he got a hold of a Strigoi gang. It all leads to him…"

"Kind of like all the evidence leads to you?"

I stared at him. "This is different."

"How?"

"It's…! It's…! It's bloody Victor Dashkov for crying out loud! Of course it him."

He didn't seem convinced.

"But what else are you going after?" Denis pushed.

I smiled. "It's none of your business cause none of you are coming."

I walked towards the truck.

"Oh no you don't." Denis picked me up by my waist easily. I screamed in protest, but he just ignored it. He set me down and looked at me. "I'm not prepared to let you out after dark."

"You don't have to be! You're not my Dad! You're not my Brother! And by all hecks you aren't my boyfriend!"

"You're right. I'm not your father, and neither is Dimka, but we quite easy access too him if we ever needed him."

"You'll just call him anyway." I noticed. "Even if you do come."

"We would be delighted to join you, thanks for the offer." Denis said sweetly and climbed into the Prado.

"Hey!"

Dimitri smiled sadly at me.

"Dimitri _please!_ Don't do this. I don't want you to get hurt…There are enough people wanting to kill you here."

"I'm not just sending you out there by yourself." He argued.

"So let me go with Denis."

He laughed humorlessly. "Ah, no. He's the equivalent of Adrian with a stake. Bad combination."

"I can do this-"

"Roza, please."

Those two words were all it took for me too give in. No matter how much I try to kid myself that I wasn't in love with him, the truth was, I would always be in love with him.

I nodded.

I was going insane. Hey, it was their faults if they wanted that too.

Denis insisted on driving, and I refused to be taken out of the equation in the back seat, so I was left in the passenger seat, staring out the window, craving to see Lissa. What if I couldn't do that anymore? What if I got the headache again? It's not like I could call Oksana anymore.

I twisted the pendant that hung around my neck in my fingers.

"So where too?" Denis asked lightly.

I thought about it for a moment. They didn't know what was going on. Maybe I would tell them if they stuck around for the ride. I decided to start from the beginning.

"To Las Vegas." I saw Dimitri stiffen in the back seat. "Where it all began."

Denis grinned broadly. "This is so much better than combat training."

I decided to risk it. There was no way anyone would, could, survive with my lonely thoughts for the trip. Just getting to the airport was going to take an hour or two.

I slipped into Lissa's mind, noticeable to Dimitri. When I opened my eyes, I saw everything she saw.

The ruins of the Court.

They had really done some damage on the place, I had to admit. Things were mostly rebuilt, but still, I don't know what it was, but it didn't look right. Maybe the sun didn't shine on it the way it used to, or the grass wasn't as green. Maybe the birds didn't sing as loud, or the wind didn't blow free. There was something odd going on here, but it was still beautiful.

"They cause so much commotion just to get Rose. Why?" she asked Adrian who was standing next to her. "Why is she always so important? It's not fair on her!"

Adrian squeezed her shoulders. "There's always a price for being the best."

"That's the thing," she argued, "she never wanted it, so why does she have to pay?"

"It's the way of life." He said miserably. "Now the Belikov's gone to get her, I know god damn well what's gonna happen."

It was Lissa's turn to comfort him. "You never know with Rose."

He shrugged. "You'd know her best."

She smiled. "Yeah, I do."

We parked out in the bushes when darkness rose. We should only be waking up, for security reasons, and we stayed up for as long as we could, but one by one, we grew tired.

We lit a fire outside our tents, an addition that Denis had packed in the Prado before we left, along with a few other necessities that I would have totally forgotten.

We had no marshmallows, which was okay. Disgusting little things. But it would have been nice to have something to talk about, or do, while we sat around the fire. I had barely said anything ever since we arrived, or even got in the car.

We decided that I should be the first to switch to a vampires normal 'daylight' hours. I had insisted in my few words that I wouldn't sleep anyway, and wouldn't be much help tomorrow.

When Denis hit the hay, Dimitri followed quickly, taking a long glance at me. I tried to put on my best smile for him, but it was covered in thought and set him off. He smiled back, our bidding goodnight. He stalked off into his tent.

And once again, I was left with my thoughts. I was completely lost for Lissa and my times. All I knew was that it was dark here. I couldn't feel anything from her unless I actually got sucked into her head.

I hugged my knees on the ground, looking out into the forest. Bad things lurked, but no Strigois apparently. Not by my senses.

But there was always the chance that Victor was out there.

Everything was getting to me. All the fear. All the sadness. All the unfamiliarity. It was taking over. I had held it in fairly well over these past couple of weeks, even in the months.

And I broke down. I didn't want to see anything or anyone.

_No one except Dimitri._

I needed him. I couldn't kid myself anymore. I needed him. I loved him.

And I had pushed him away.

My eyes were dry, but small sobs etched on my throat. It felt like I couldn't breathe. The weight of the world was on my shoulders. I was all alone out here, and I really needed someone.

I would never know how Dimitri knew I needed him.

Wordlessly, he walked up to me, dropping down right beside so I could lean into him. He stroked my hair and shushed me as I dry cried into his chest. It wasn't a cry; really, it was just stress and fear pouring from my chest instead of my eyes.

Yeah, Rose Hathaway feels that sometimes, not like anyone cared.

People thought of me as an indestructible machine that could just keep fighting and fighting. They took that too far, thinking that I would keep fighting and fighting for the opposite team.

They were all killing me. Or trying to at least.

"It won't stop, will it." I guessed in a murmur. "It'll just get worse and worse until-"

I bit myself off. I couldn't say it.

_Until they kill me._

He rubbed my arm. "I don't know, my Roza. I don't know."

I sniffled. "I'm sorry," I murmured back.

I felt him smile. "No, I am. You were right. I did just expect everything to go back the way it was with an apology. I never thought-" he seemed loss for words, even though they were pouring out of his mouth. I wondered if he actually knew what he was saying. "I never knew how much I needed you."

I leaned in closer to his chest.

"I love you, Dimitri. I'll never be able to tell you that enough."

He squeezed me in his arms. We leaned back so we were lying on the ground, his chest was my pillow.

He kissed my forehead for a long time, squeezing his eyes shut.

"I love you, Roza. I'll make it stop. I promise."

He didn't know exactly what he was promising.

**Hey :)**

**I made it longer than I normally would, just for you guys! 2,172 words. :) You're lucky am I'm in a good, romantic writing mood. My original idea was for her to knock him off and run away. **

**So don't expect this to last forever for now. I could still kill him off…oh I am evil ha-ha.**

**But I thought it was about time we had some Rose/Dimitri action going on so….**

**Oh and also! SAVE DIMITRI BELIKOV! Group page has now officially changed it's name thanks to Spirit Bound! We have had a vote on there, and now it is called SAVE DIMTRI BELIKOV'S HEART! Come and join! And be sure to add me as a friend! I'm the creator of the group if you're looking for me!**

**Tell me what you think. **

**Love you all! :)**

**Lauren**


	11. The Dreams

The next morning, Denis and Dimitri woke up earlier than I had expected. Dimitri had gone to sleep after offering to take my shift, but the same 'I won't sleep anyway. I'll be useless all day' had won me a second round and he had given in.

I wasn't sure where Dimitri and I stood. We had admitted to still loving each other, but I knew him well enough to know that Adrian and I were still technically together. Was last night considered cheating?

There wasn't much to pack away, since we hadn't taken much out of the Prado.

I was in the front seat again, with Denis driving. He took my hand and smiled at me, and i smiled back friendly, then leant over to the window and placed my head against the humming of the car.

I closed my eyes and i dreamt of a paddock. It was so beautiful. The sun shined bright, the birds sung and the perfectly green grass danced in it's lone circle in the wind. Wild flowers covered the ground around the medium sized circle of grass, happily swaying. This whole place made me feel like everything good in the world.

I looked down at my clothes. A beautiful, swaying dress hung perfectly to my sides and stomach, but not in a slutty way at all.

I breathed in the fresh air happily, closing my eyes at the pleasure of pureness.

When i opened my eyes, in the middle of the circle stood a single, blood red tulip. It wasn't like the other mix of flowers. It was alluring...but in the worst way possible. It drew me closer, like a moth to a flame.

I walked into the circle, feeling instant power. Everything else in my world was gone now. It was me, power, and that flower. I didn't know exactly what i was going to do with the flower after i picked it, but it was instinct to go over there.

I reached the flower quicker than i had intended too, kneeling down to it. I grinned as i touched it's petals.

But as my finger came in contact with the flower, it turned black. The birds turned into ravens and vultures, and the sun disappeared behind black clouds. The flower was fully black, its petals crumpling away into dust until only the stalk stood, only the tiniest peice of green showing in it.

I was scared. I didn't mean too! I only touched it...

I backed away from the flower, the wind howling in my ears. Lightning struck somewhere over my head.

The flower started to glow brighter and brighter until it started to engulf the grass around it. The grass around it died in its glow, and the flowers were starting to wither.

I backed up against a shrub before turning around and trying to dig my way out. It would kill me. I knew it would.

I turned around, giving up hope on getting out.

That's when i saw them. Everyone i cared about, or knew, or i cared if they died.

Lissa. Adrian. Mom. Abe. Masen. Eddie. Dimitri. Denis. Olena. Oksana. All of them. Even Yakov, Eduard and Sergei. All of them.

Lissa was in front, and was one of the two that talked.

"ROSE! HEL-"

She was discarding away like the effects of time. A big gaping hole ate her head inside out while she cried and disintergrated on the floor. I cried out to her, but it was too late. Tears streaked my eyes.

One by one, they did the exact same thing while i stood there, crying out to them.

Dimitri was the only other person who talked. "What have you done?"

He disintergrated.

"NOOOOO!"

**This isn't an official chapter! Just something i was writing! I will post one tonight! so dont get your granny knickers in a twist!**

I shot up out of the chair, smacking Denis on the forehead. I groaned.

"Yeah she's fine." Denis told Dimitri, rubbing his head.

But was I? Really?


	12. Dimitris Revenge

The flight to Las Vegas was long and boring. I sat next to Denis, leaning on his shoulder while he smiled. I closed my eyes. I was still very tired, i had only gotten an hour of sleep in the car.

I was worrying about my dream. When i recapped on it, leaving out the melting heads, i had no clue. All i could think was 'What the hell!'. What was it meant to mean? It was nice, then i touched the flower, and it was a nightmare. They had died because i had touched the flower, because i had felt the power.

WHAT THE HELL?

I didn't sleep while i rested on Denis' shoulder. How could I?

I closed my eyes and let my mind slip into Lissa's. It continued to surprise me how every time I slipped in, she was always in some place different. This time, she was in bed, snuggled up to Christian's clothed shoulder.

She was falling asleep fast, feeling Christian's warmth under her hands.

Everything went black, and we both arrived on an island. Well, half an island.

On the other side, as far as the eye could see, was Adrian's garden, but we were quite clearly standing on a beach.

I looked to Lissa, who was just as surprised as I was.

"Is it always like this? Dream walking?" she asked me.

In the middle of the two worlds, they began to blur together. The blur grew bigger and bigger, smooshing anything under it.

"Never. Did you do something wrong?" I asked her, stepping in between her and the blur that was fast approaching.

She shook her head. "No, I did it perfectly. What's going on?"

Realisation took over me and I shook my head. Whether the thought was placed there, or it was my own creation, didn't matter. The fact was that it made sense.

"Someone doesn't want me talking to you," I told her.

"Why?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, but it's working. It's too dangerous to talk anymore, Lissa."

She shook her head. "No. I need to talk to you!"

I kicked myself for the next realisation. "They don't want me seeing you." I whispered. "They're making it hurt."

"Why?" she asked again.

"I wish I knew, Lissa. I wish I knew." I told her honestly. "But you can't tell anyone about this. You can't trust anyone anymore. That means Christian and Adrian and all of them. Promise me."

She nodded. "I promise."

The blur reached us, Lissa screamed as I was sucked into it.

I woke up coughing, breathing deeply.

"Oh cough up a lung, why don't ya." Denis joked.

I rolled my eyes at him. Denis smiled gently at me, and I smiled back. As innocent as that seemed, I saw Dimitri's eyes peircing into Denis' back. I sighed, but I was quite flattered at his jealousy.

I closed my eyes and rest against Denis again, and for the first time in…forever, I got dreamless sleep. But it was short lived, I thought, cause it was too soon that Denis was shaking his shoulder, making my head bob up and down. I woke up and tried to stretch, noticing that the plane was lower than it had ever been out the window.

"Where are we?" I asked either of them.

Denis grinned. "In Las Vagas, baby!"

He didn't shout it or say it in any way that would suggest that he said that every time he came here. It was like he was actually calling me 'baby'. I didn't care anymore. I was tired and grumpy.

I yawned on my way out of the terminal and out to collect our bags.

"So where too first, Boss?" Denis grinned.

I sighed. "Oh I don't know. Maybe we should look around? Ask a couple of questions to the people here and there?"

Dimitri didn't look happy about this arrangement. "It would be nice to know what we are looking for. We would help you, you know."

Of course they could help me. But that wasn't the question in play.

_Could either of them be trusted?_

My heart told me to trust Dimitri. I knew I could trust him with my life. But Denis? Truth was, I only just met him. It has only been a couple of days, but it seems like I've known him forever.

And there was the issue with me and Lissa. Was it Denis who was keeping us out? Highly unlikely, but it was always good to make sure.

"Maybe later," I told Dimitri, acting like I was telling Denis too. "But right now we need to rest and just relax for a little bit. Hopefully no one will find us here. Actually, scratch that. No one will you you guys with me. But I doubt that with Yeva's masterpeice."

They both nodded and helped out with the bags. By the time they were both carrying all that they wanted, I was left with nothing. Any other girl would be flattered, considering I had had now a total of four hours sleep, but not me. I stared at the boys, shook my head in disbelief, and grabbed one bag from each guy. They were now happy carrying three bags, and me two. Mine.

We pulled up at a scroggy hotel in the middle of nowhere and booked a room for three.

The room was gross. I was guessing this hotel was more like a whorehouse than anything. Would anyone really care if I screamed in here? They'd call me a slut if anything.

If only they knew.

"I bags the bed next to Rose's!" Denis shouted, jumping onto one of the two beds that were close to each other, landing in a perfect sitting position. He grinned at us like a child.

I raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't aware that you wanted to be close to me." I told him. "Did you need me to read you a bedtime story?"

Dimitri smirked.

Denis got the joke, though. "Yes please!"

I laughed with him. "You're such a child." I told Denis. "How old are you?"

"Twenty five. The same as smirky man over there." He told me. "And I'm not a child. I just like to have fun. You like to have fun too, Rose. Or, you did."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

He shrugged. "You seem off lately. Always on a mission."

"That's not my fault." I argued.

"I wasn't finished." He continued. "Even when you were on a mission before, you always loved to have fun. Now your just…like anyone else."

"She's responsible." Dimitri cut in, glaring at Denis. "Or, she kind of is."

"True dat." I nodded, walking over to the other bed, the one in a separate part of the room, and dropped my bags off.

Dimitri didn't acknowledge me. "Don't say she is doing the wrong thing by it." He warned Denis.

Denis' eyes shot up. "I'm guessing he's the one who took that innocence away from you, huh."

"That's none of your business." He growled.

Denis smirked when he looked at me. "Well, since night time is the only time to have fun around this place, we could always…make the best of it."

"Don't you dare-"

"You gonna stop me, Dimka? Geeze, I was only suggesting we go down to a casino."

"I know better than that what you were-"

"Alright! Time to cool off."

I stood in between the two of them and placed a hand on either of their chests.

"Cool it or I'll force it." I warned.

Both guys relaxed under my words, but they didn't cool it at all. Denis stalked off to my bed, dragging his fingers slowly along the bed, before walking into the bathroom, winking at me on his way.

I breathed out the air I had been holding in. One guy I could handle.

"Why did I think I could go all the way around the world with two testostrone fueled guys?"

Dimitri pulled half his mouth into a half smile, but didn't take his eyes off the bathroom door.

I sighed. "Why don't we go for a walk?"

His eyes shot to me, just like I had suspected them too. "At night? You're kidding me."

I shook my head. "I never joke when it comes to distracting you. It's once in a lifetime, really."

I fell onto his bed, pulling a leg up and hugging it.

He saw what I had done, then smiled. "Only you, Roza. Only you."

I laughed silently. "And it only takes a walk at night. Pitiful really." I joked.

He grinned and fell onto the bed with me, although he fell all the way down, pulling me with him until we were both lying on his bed sideways. I laughed with him for the shortest amount of time I had ever laughed with him. That had only been once before…I thought I had anyway.

"You ready for that walk, Roza?" Denis asked from the bathroom doorway.

Dimitri instantly sighed and let go of me. I sat up as he did.

"I was kidding." I told him. "You really need to work on your eavesdropping. If your not as good as me, it'll get you into trouble."

He grinned. "I suppose a lot of people wish to be as good as you."

I rolled my eyes and heaved myself from the bed. I turned back to see Dimitri _still_ glaring at him, but this time he added something new. A shaking of the head.

Great.

Now not only was I travelling the world with two testostorone fueled guys. But not only that, they were best buds, but because of me, they hated each other.

Crap.

I rubbed my forehead. "I need a shower."

"Save water, shower togeth-"

"No." I warned Denis.

He grinned. "Only joking."

"Sure you were."

I couldn't help but smile at his pitiful attempt. I grabbed a towel from within my bag (I really didn't trust multicoloured towels the hotel had for us. They looked like the lost and found bin on a rack.) and walked into the bathroom. I closed the door, but then stopped, and quietly opened it again. I tried to listen what they were saying.

I wasn't lying. I was pretty good at it.

"Roza is something, isn't she?" Denis sighed.

"It's not working." Dimitri warned. "You can't just waltz in here and steal her from me. She's smarter than you think. She'll see past your pitiful games."

"Just like she sees through yours." Denis shot back. "I know the real you, Dimitri Belikov. She's looked past the killing. She's looked past the fact that you beat your own father up. She saw that as heroic."

"You know what happened. That was to protect my mother, not put on some big show."

"But you did anyway. She thinks you are so invincible. Watch it unravel as she sees how cowardly you really are."

"I'm not playing a game, Denis."

"Well sure you are. If you wanna keep her, you'll play the game with everything you've got. If you don't, just give up now. Go home."

"And if I don't want to play the game? If shes the love of my life and I don't want to play a stupid, childish game to keep her?"

Denis grinned. "Too bad."

I closed the door, leaning against it to think. Games? Yeah, Denis laid it on pretty thick but…

What the hell was going on?


	13. Secrets

In the middle of the day, Denis was asleep. It was his turn to turn the tables into vampire timing, like I had the previous day. Denis snored really badly, so much that it felt like he was breathing in my ear, even though I repeatedly checked to make sure he was still in his bed.

I groaned after three hours of trying to block out the noise. I sat up, rubbing my temples. Then slid out of bed and peaked out the window. This sleeping time wasn't doing so great for my stress situation.

A hand covered my mouth, a strong one at that. I struggled, but his voice swept through my mind, and I stop.

I turned around to see Dimitri.

"Was that really necessary?" I whispered intensely.

He shrugged. "We wouldn't want to wake prince charming." He grumbled.

I smiled in satisfaction. "Is someone a little jealous?"

He rolled his eyes. "Hardly."

I snickered. "Well you shouldn't be," I said, ignoring his lie. "Hate to bring it up, but technically, I am still going out with Adrian. I'm not a slut anymore, and I certainly wouldn't cheat. Ever."

Dimitri sighed. "I knew I hated it. I told myself it would have been better-"

"You don't have to do that." I told him. "I'm just saying I don't cheat. I don't just…go out with anyone I can get my hands on. Not anymore. I love you, Dimitri, I always will, but I can't just-"

The look he was giving me cut me off. He was smiling, like he was…_approving?_

"What are you smiling at?"

He shook his head. "How responsible, how caring you are. I'm not asking you to break up with Adrian, Roza. I want you to be happy, whoever you're with. But know this. I'll always be the rebound guy. Even if you're not my rebound girl."

I smiled. "You expect to be dating?"

He laughed. "No. I'll only ever have a heart for you. And besides, I have enough trouble keeping _you_ out of trouble."

I laughed with him, in a whisper like the whole conversation.

"Just promise me something." He asked me. "Please."

I smiled despite his serious tone. "Anything."

I could tell he wanted to smile. "Don't fall for Denis."

The way he said that made it sound suspicious. _Don't fall for Denis._

Not, don't _date_ Denis. Not, don't _go out_ with Denis. Not even, don't _fall in love with _Denis.

_Don't fall for Denis._ The way he was acting last night, I was in no rush to fall in love with him.

"No problem. But may I ask why? I know you guys were fighting for whatever but…you're best friends, are you?"

He hesitated. "People change, Rose. You should know that more than anyone."

I frowned. "What are you suggesting? I heard what went on last night. What did he mean, who you really are? What game?"

He sighed. "Of course you'd be listening."

I grabbed his arm. "What is going on with you two? I have a right to know! I let you come, didn't I?"

He shook his head. "No. We talked ourselves into it."

"Could have just as easily gone last night while you two where sleeping. That was my master plan that blew up. Now tell me what's going on."

He paused. "You were going to ditch us in the forest?"

I shrugged. "You two are very capable of getting out of a forest. Now stop putting me off track!"

He sighed. "Denis…He thinks he knows more than he does."

I sighed and placed my hands on my hips. Did he really think I was that stupid?

He looked innocent. "What?"

"That's just insulting to my devious intelligence."

He sighed. "Rose…"

I lifted my eyebrows. "Hmm?"

He was about to talk, but he bit it off.

"I don't want any lies, Dimitri. I'm sick of them. There are too many. Just tell me. What's the risk?"

"You." He said. "You may look at me like I'm a disgusting liar and walk away from me forever."

If I had been drinking coffee, I would have sprayed it all over him.

"You really think so?"

He nodded.

I laughed in a whisper. "Never, Dimitri. Never."

He sighed. "I can't tell you, Rose. I'm sorry."

He pulled away, but I tugged on his arm.

"You owe me."

He shook his head. "I can't risk it. It's too…embarrassing."

"Oh c'mon! You know all of my embarrassing secrets!"

He shrugged. "Just…please, Roza. Trust me on this."

"And what if Denis suggests something that isn't the truth? Huh? It'll only be worse-"

"If Denis suggests something, you come and talk to me about it, like the responsible adult you are." He cut me off.

"And if I'm not so responsible?" I asked.

"You are." He argued.

"I don't think I am. I'm not like you, no matter how much I want it or how hard I try."

He's hiding something from me? Well, that was only to be expected…I guess…It wasn't my business, though I wished it was.

I sighed. "I don't know what you're hiding from me." I whispered finally. "And I would find it out, I really would. But I've got a lot on my hands right now."

"Which you still haven't told me about."

"You can't know it. I'm sorry, Dimitri, I trust you, really. But…I can't be sure who to trust anymore. Someone's trying to keep me away from Liss."

Shock flashed in his eyes. "Really?"

I nodded. "Oksana had to come and help me out of my severe pain. She gave me my pendant," I pulled it from under my shirt to show him. "Infused with spirit. It keeps the pain down, but it doesn't stop the nightmares."

"It makes you feel better?"

I nodded.

"And you have to wear it or it will be painful?"

I nodded again. "To both me and Liss. I don't know what's going on, but it's a pain in the butt."

I would have accused him at staring at my chest, but he was staring at my pendant in a way that made me feel…scared?

**SOZ! Okay I know I'm gonna get a heap of reviews saying "It was too short!" send them. I love getting reviews. I can just predict the future…or its obvious. IDK I'm to tired to care.**

**I know! But its 11.15pm and I'm tired and hungry and thirsty and…feeling like Rose at the moment actually lol. I write how I feel.**

**But you can along with a thousand words for tonight? Right? **

**I'll make it up to you, I promise. I just need some sleep.**

**Luv **

**Lauren!**

**Xoxoxo *yawn***


	14. Sneaking round!

We didn't sleep the next day. Instead, we went out, then only time it was 'safe'.

I needed to think. I had no clue what we were doing in Las Vegas anymore. I had thought it would be best, that maybe we could talk to some of the hookers in the place, but nothing had turned out of it. We talked to at least six places, both of the boys uncomfortable, watching my back as I talked my way into influencing the managers to let me look at their files.

I needed Lissa. But even she couldn't help with half the cases. Some places didn't even hold files of 'cases'.

After exiting the seventh place, once again, unsuccessful, I leaned against the filthy wall of the strip bar, flinching my hand away when I felt a fresh piece of gum stick to my fingers.

"Well this stinks." I grumbled, looking at me fingers, rubbing them together to try and get a bit of sticky juice off of them from the gum.

Denis laughed. "Not that I'm objecting or anything," he said, grinning. "But why are we visiting every strip bar we've seen on our little tour you're giving us?"

I rolled my eyes, a small smile playing on my lips. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, well," I looked to Dimitri. "You might. But he wouldn't."

Dimitri smirked.

I looked back towards the both of them, not just Dimitri.

"This is too important. I'm sorry I can't tell you. I'm sure you guys could probably help me, but…I can't fuck it up. Not this time."

Denis grinned. "Where can I get your dictionary?"

I sighed, leaning back off the wall and placing my hands on my hips. I felt in charge, and in a way, I was. Finally, I could boss Dimitri around! It was a nice, warm feeling that he trusted that he had trained me enough.

"I guess we should go back before the sun goes down. But I'm not so sure we will get very far with these joints in the day."

Dimitri cut in with his sensible idea. "We come back another night when we are more prepared, and armed."

I nodded. "Makes sense. C'mon."

We walked back down the street after a long day of searching. Our feet would probably be caning by now if we hadn't been used to standing around all day.

We made it back to our hotel in no time at all, and I flunked down on my bed. The springs were ridge enough to squeak loudly as I collapsed a great representation on what it was doing to my back.

"What's the plan?" Denis asked, sitting on the edge of my bed. With his finger, he drew on my stomach, making me shiver. I wasn't sure if it was in pleasure, or in disgust, but I wanted him to stop. I didn't move, though.

"I don't know. I guess we keep looking, huh?"

Dimitri sighed. "There have to be at least fifty strip joints around the city. Maybe more. It'll take forever."

A sensation washed through me, and in my wasted time and frustration, I shot up, Denis flinching his finger back. I leaped off the bed. I walked over to the wall, placing my hands on either side of my do it wasn't touching. After a moment, I twisted around, leaning on the wall and banging my head softly on the wall.

"He wouldn't want it recorded. Why would he? Uh!"

After another few moments, Dimitri walked over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Roza?"

I groaned. "I'm wasting my time here. Why would the-" I caught myself.

_A royal as huge as Eric Dragomir wouldn't want this recorded! It was meant to be secret! If it was, it'd be on display for the whole Court to see! What was I thinking!_

"This stinks." I grumbled.

Denis laughed in the background. "You already said that one, Rose."

Dimitri was already on his case. "She's not in the mood, Denis, and neither am I."

He shrugged. "I'm just trying to get everyone out of their despair for the moment."

I smiled without humor at him. "Not working. Zip it."

"Fair enough."

Dimitri turned his attention back to me. "Are you okay?"

I nodded while I breathed deeply. "Yeah. Get some rest. It's been a long day."

"Roza…"

I silenced him with a look.

He sighed, shook his head, and turned towards Denis.

"You wanna go for a shower first, or will Rose?"

Dimitri didn't snore at all. He didn't snort. He may as well have been dead without his chest building up with letting go.

I was going insane. I knew that already, but this was different. It's like…being proud of something that you've created. You think it's the best thing in the world, but then in breaks into a million pieces, and you're completely devastated.

Three days I hadn't slept. Much. And I wasn't going to break that now.

I slid out of bed as quiet as I could to grab a coat from within the door. After scribbling a short note of one of the hotel pieces of paper, I laid it next to Dimitri's head like one of those boring romance movies. I took one last look at Dimitri for the night, and then opened the door carefully, slipping through, then shutting it. I dragged my fingers through my hair, pulled on the coat, then made my way down the stairs.

I needed a long walk, not that we didn't do enough walking already today.

I rounded the first corner. The night air that I had so dearly missed had turned into cigarette smoke, booze and piss. I had my stake on hand for any surprise Strigoi attacks, and a smaller, but fairly lethal and scary knife for any humans.

I rounded the third and fourth corner before stopping at a small park. We were on the outskirts on the town after all, but it was still possibly the only park in all of Las Vegas.

And it wasn't something to look upon in awe. The place was more like a hang out for drug dealers.

What was it with this part of Las Vegas?

I leaned against one of the trees, hugging my coat to myself. Dimitri would absolutely kill me if he knew I had done this. Had he waken up yet? I didn't have a mobile, and I hadn't told him exactly where I was going, since I really had no clue. What would he assume?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a movement. I turned my whole head so I would get a better view of it. It was a man dressed in black, talking to a…homeless person? It wasn't any of my concern.

But then the homeless man started walking towards me, and this time I turned my whole body, ready for his attack.

He stood in front of me, an evil, amused grin plastered on his face. "Hey there, beautiful."

I smiled back in fake kindness. "Hey there, douche bag."

I started to walk away, pushing myself off the tree. I calmed down my pulse. I had trained to kill, not just get away. I seriously didn't want to kill this man, even though he was hitting on when he was at least two and a half times my age.

"There was a man over there. Nice man, he gave me fifty dollars to give you a message."

I stopped and turned towards him.

"And?" I asked. "What's the message?"

He smiled. "He had his fee, now you have yours."

"I don't have any money on me."

He grinned. "There other ways of payment for such a lovely girl like yourself."

_Creep!_

"Really?" I asked in fake sweetness. "Hmm…okay. How about this. I have a knife and pointy thing on me. I can take out my knife in half a second, and pin you on the ground with it at your throat in less that five."

He squinted. "You're bluffing."

"I was actually hoping you would say that."

I pulled out my knife from my coat pocket. My stake was strapped to my leg.

"You don't know how to use it." He challenged me.

I smiled. "A knife isn't hard to use. And I'm trained to use my pointy thing. Now, tell me the message."

He gulped, taking a step back.

"The message." I demanded.

His face was emotionless. "Amelia Carter." He said.

"What-?"

But he was already gone, running in the other direction. I slid my knife back into my coat pocket and ran the name through my head. It was nothing I had ever heard before.

I looked back over to where the man in black was standing. He hadn't moved, but I could tell he was looking at me.

But when he started to run away, I followed him. I ran as fast as I could, jumping over invisible objects that I couldn't see until the last second.

"HEY!" I shouted.

The man wasn't as fast as he wanted to be. I was right on his tail, but I couldn't afford the mistake if I attacked him. He darted right, behind something. I turned the corner half a second later, but he was gone.

The name still played over in my head.

"Amelia Carter."

I opened the door as quietly as I could when I walked into the room again. When it was silent, I breathed a sigh of relief. Now all I had to do was crawl back into bed and-

The lights flicked on, and Dimitri stood in the middle of the room, his arms crossed in front of him. I jumped when I saw him, squealing a little bit. When I turned around to see Denis at the lights, I didn't jump.

"Nice walk?" Dimitri asked.

My grin was sheepish. "Lovely, thank you." I ignored the sarcasm in his voice.

He sighed. "Rose…"

"What are you gonna do? Ground me?" I asked. "I'm an adult! I can go for a walk, can't I?"

"No." he growled.

"Why?" it was the worst thing I could have said.

"You know why." He said. "Do you know how long we've been waiting here for you? What if something happened to you!"

"Then it would be my problem, not yours." I shot back.

He sighed. "I really hoped we'd been past this stage, Rose."

"We don't all get what we want." I shot again.

"Hey!" Denis cut in behind me, focused on Dimitri. "She was just going for a walk!"

Dimitri looked at Denis. "It was irresponsible and childish. What were you gonna do?"

Somehow, this had all turned back on me. "I went for a walk. I stayed in the park for a little while, and then I came back. God, it's not illegal!"

He didn't say anything.

"I'm going to sleep. I'm tired."

One name still played in the back of my mind.

Amelia Carter.

**HEY!**

**Chapter 14! Awesome!**

**R&R!**

**Xoxoxo**

**Lauren**


	15. Strippers!

Dimitri was still in a grumble the next morning.

I couldn't say that it didn't matter to me, or that I couldn't care less, because that wasn't true, but it was close enough. I now had a name to go off. Some sort of lead. But of course, my mind wandered off.

I had no clue who would have given me a clue. I was just praying that they wanted me too win. Amelia Carter. Just thinking of the name sent excited shivers down my back.

If I was successful…this would be a victorious moment in history. And the queen had trusted me enough to send the first note. She had truly believed I could find the long lost son/daughter of Eric Dragomir.

The strip bar managers weren't too happy to see us again after demanding to see their files. But we weren't there for that again. We were only visiting the strip clubs without the records. Amelia Carter. I said her name as much as possible, and once Dimitri and Denis caught the drift, they copied.

Our final one, number eighteen, the only other bar without files recorded in Las Vegas. If they couldn't give us any clue as to who Amelia Cater was, I was stumped. But I had only one more trick up my sleeve, something that I should have probably done first, but I would have to do it alone.

This opportunity came first.

We walked through the door, the guys, once again, scanning the room for threats. They were beginning to become more comfortable in places like this, even when they were being offered their…services.

This place was disgusting. You couldn't tell who was a whore and who was a normal person. Maybe they were all whores…apart from me.

We walked up to the bar, ready to perform the act that we had done heaps of times.

I rested my elbows up on the bar as the guys dispersed out around the bar. I called the bartender over and asked for a whiskey.

"My, my," I acted astonished. "This place is amazing. Tell me, sir, who's the manager here?"

He handed me the whiskey. "Manager? Girl you must be off your nut. This place hasn't had a manager in years! Can't you tell? Joe likes to do all the work himself. Keeps him busy enough, though I wish he could control it. He doesn't like to leave his office."

I circled the top of the glass with my finger. "Joe? He's the owner?"

The bartender grabbed a bottle and dried its inside with a towel. "Yes ma'am. Kind of a nut case if you ask me."

I nodded. "He sounds interesting," I noted. "Can I meet him? Where's his office?"

The bartender pointed to the back corner of the room, through the bar fights and people making out. I gagged at their little self respect, but I kept it too myself.

"Through the hall, turn left at your first chance and its ten doors down. But he won't wanna see ya. He likes it quiet in there so he can play his poker and his solitaire."

I dropped off a tip for the bartender, and with a quick thanks, I slid through the people and towards the back office. No doubt Denis and Dimitri would follow me into the hall.

I opened the door to be greeted by a large, dirty hall. It was the type you would see in the movies. Really wide, deserted, with large piles of dust in the corners and around the edges. The whole place looked like it was meant to be sterile, but wasn't looked after very well.

"Well we know who takes care of this place," Denis said sarcastically as he, followed by Dimitri, walked into the hall. Denis was being a pansy, not touching anything with the slightest particle of dust on it.

"It's perfectly safe in here," I assured. I meant from the dust. I took one more look at it and my nose scrunched up involuntary. "For a rodent."

"Did you get it? The manager's room?" Denis asked.

I shook my head. "No manager. The owner. Take the first left, ten doors down."

"Great. Let's get this girl and get out."

"She may not be here," I warned.

"How did you even get her name? Yesterday you had no clue…" Denis asked.

I looked to Dimitri. Denis was exactly like Adrian trained with a stake, or so he put it. But Adrian, I had to argue, really wasn't that oblivious. Denis knew I went out last night, he had helped Dimitri catch me, but he still had no clue where I got the name from. Dimitri was smarter than that.

Denis was still waiting for me to reply.

"It came to me in a dream I had last night," I lied smoothly. "Someone must have sent it too me."

I was absolutely sure Dimitri saw past my lies, like he always did.

"They can do that?" Denis asked me as we walked.

I nodded. "Some can."

We turned off at the first left. The corridor wasn't as long as I had thought it was, being that there were at least fifteen doors along both sides of the corridor.

"Ten doors on which side?" Denis asked me.

I shook my head. "This side has seven doors, this side has eight. It couldn't be a side. It has to be zigzagged."

Dimitri counted the doors in his head before walking up to one and reading the name of it.

"Joe Callum. This is it."

"The bartender said he was a little…whack. Be prepared for that." I told them both as Denis and I walked to the door. Dimitri put three, hard knocks on the door before waiting.

"Who is it?" a voice shouting from within the door.

We looked at each other. I had the first idea.

"Visitors!" I shouted back.

There was a sigh. "Come in, then."

We each had a hand on our stakes as I opened the door.

I nearly fell over backwards to who I saw.

"Well hello, _Anastasia_. Thought you'd run off and do your own thing again, huh?"

"Oh shoot me now."

Abe.

"Where's Joe?" I asked him. He had seated me in one of the uncomfortable chairs Joe kept in his office.

"The question is, why do you care? He does run a strip joint after all." Abe smirked. "Or more so, why you have visited every strip bar in spitting distance of this place. Or why you felt the need to come to Las Vegas. Or worry Olena and Oksana like that by running away!"

"I have something I need to do," I told him.

"Oh really? May I remind you that people from all over the world have moved into Russia too look for you? To take you back to the Court? Are you not aware of how many people want to kill you right now?" I could tell he really wanted to shout, but he really wasn't that type of man. He turned his attention on Dimitri and Denis. "And you two! What were you thinking? Just letting her go off on like that-"

"This isn't their faults!" I shouted at him. "We've done nothing wrong!"

He pointed at Dimitri. "He came he when he was strictly forbidden not to _for your safety_ just to see _how you were doing?_ It's his fault!" he took a deep breath in before continuing. "Lucky that I found you before anyone else did. We'll move you to a safe location and-"

"No. You won't. Abe, I told you I'm here to do something."

"Others can do it-"

"No, they can't. You can't force your protection on me. I'm safe. I'm not a stupid little girl anymore." I argued.

"Well your acting like one!"

"Cause your treating me like one!"

"What's with all the yelling?"

We all turned to see an old man standing in the doorway. Dimitri, Denis and my reaction was mixed with confusion and shock. Abe, on the other hand, smiled.

"Ah, Joe. What a pleasant surprise."

Great. Of course he'd know who he was. That was my plan down the tubes without him knowing everything.

"Ah Abe! This is great! Who are…these people?"

Joe sounded like he looked at us in disgust, but I didn't take my eyes off of Abe to see it.

Abe smiled. "This is my daughter and her two…friends."

I frowned at Abe. "I like you a whole lot better three minutes ago." I noted.

He smiled in amusement.

"Ah! You're daughter! I have been waiting years…"

"You two know each other?" Denis asked.

Joe came to stand next to Abe to get a look at me.

"Why of course we do. We went to school together, you know." Joe grinned. "What can I do for you?"

I backed up so I was standing in between Denis and Dimitri. There was no way they would just let us walk out, not with Abe standing there. He would ship me off to some other country, and probably send Dimitri back to the Court like nothing ever happened.

I hated to admit it, but I needed him now. I needed him morally.

"Nothing now," I told him. I glared at Abe. "We'll be going. Sorry for wasting your time."

Abe nodded his head. "Yes, she will be coming with me."

I shook mine. "No. I'll be going back to what I am doing now. You can't force me."

He smiled. "I'm not the bad guy, Rose. I'm trying to make sure you don't get killed."

"If you weren't the bad guy you'd let me do this. This is a matter of life and death."

He faltered. I took that as my signal.

I grabbed both of the boy's hands and started to back away. I let go of Denis' when they caught the drift.

"Rose, please. I'm trying to help you." Abe pleaded with authority. "I would never forgive myself if they caught you."

I shook my head. "I'm trying to save the world. You wouldn't be the blame."

We ran.

We took 'shortcuts' when we went through the hall. No one was chasing us, but we still had to run.

Abe's words scared me a little, and made me think we had a third party on my tail.

"Don't run after them. We'll catch them."

**Hello once again!**

**I'm getting a lot of reviews asking for this story never to end (Aww…thanks!) but unfortunately it will have to eventually. It may not be for a while, but eventually it will. **

**I would like to put a post down. Should this continue for a long while or stop it at maybe double of what it is? Keep in mind that it would involve a lot of fluff if it keeps going and may either 1) turn into nowhere and go all weird or 2) the plot will finish and a new one will begin.**

**Tell me!**

**Xoxoxo**

**Lauren**


	16. Partnership

"We can't leave," I told Dimitri, despite his arguments. "We're not done here, and we can't move on anywhere else. This is the whole-"

"I would agree with you, if your father wasn't on our case. Of course, if I knew what we had to do here with that Amelia Carter girl… and why we would find her at a strip joint I don't wanna know." Dimitri hinted.

"That's right, you don't wanna know. But it's important and I can only do it here." I told them both. "Please."

Denis and Dimitri had already finished packing, a ten minute job with their fast guardian skills.

"I'm sorry, Roza," Dimitri apologized. "But I need to take control of this situation."

"What's the worst he can do? Send me somewhere? What's the point of that risk if I'm not where I want to be to begin with?" I checked over it in my head to make sure it made sense. "Yeah."

"Rose…" he warned.

"Please. I need to do this, and if you trust me, you'll let me."

He thought about it. "And if you get so caught up with your father's business that you can't do what we came here for?"

I shrugged. "I'll worry about that later."

He sighed. "I don't like this, Rose."

"You can just go, if you want. But I'm staying."

Denis walked into the bathroom, make a heck of a noise in there that turned both of our heads, then walked back out.

"I'm staying." He said.

I shook my head in disbelief. "What did you do in there? Set off a chainsaw?"

He rolled his eyes. "I took out my toiletries. I'm staying."

I smiled at him. "You're so random." I looked to Dimitri, wiping the smile partway off my face. "Please?"

He sighed. "I swear, Rose, you are the only one I'd do this for."

I grinned. What the heck. I pulled him in for a hug, something that I had been craving for ages. But I pulled away after a short time, acting as though I was friendly enough with him.

Denis cleared his throat and opened his arms out for me. I laughed and he pulled me in for a hug. After I pulled away, a little longer than Dimitri, I saw him and his annoyed expression.

Jealous Dimitri. The only thing better than the bad ass Dimitri. Well, maybe it was a tie.

"So we're staying." I concluded. "Great. Excuse me."

I walked out into the hall, closing the door quickly, and then ran down the hall. I caught the elevator just as it was closing, slipping in between the doors that were sliding shut.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Now for plan B while there was still a brink of light.

I found the nearest phone booth, pretending to make a phone call. I looked through the phone book for an Amelia Carter.

Cater, J

Cator, K

Calter, L

Carter, A

Cater, M

Whoa. Carter A? Amelia?

I wrote down the phone number on a small piece of paper, shocked that there had actually been one. Could it possibly be? Amelia Carter?

I didn't know why I was getting so excited. A stranger in the park had told me her name. Was she Eric Dragomir's mistress? Prostitute?

"Rose?"

I twirled around, stuffing the number in my pocket to face Dimitri.

"Hey," I said unevenly. I cleared my throat.

"I've given up," he said with sigh. Of course, it sent a scared shock wave through me. The last time I had heard those words…

I've given up on you. Love fades…mine has.

"I can't figure this out. You go looking for some girl who may not even exist? Look through their files? You come back from a walk a little shaken up and you suddenly have a name that you're looking for? And Las Vegas! Of all places…Just tell me, Rose. I'm scared for you."

I swallowed. "You really have been thinking about this quite a bit, haven't you?"

He nodded. "Every time a new clue comes up as to what the hell you're doing…it leads nowhere! Do you know how frustrating that is!"

I sighed. "I'm sorry-"

"No. Don't be sorry," he cut in. "Tell me. Just…please."

"You won't believe me." I told him.

He took my hand and led me down to one of the benches near the phone box, where I had left the page open to Amelia Carter. Shoot!

"Try me."

I gulped. "Fine, but I warned you." I told him. He nodded, accepting the consequences. I breathed deeply then stared at my hands. "Lissa isn't an only child. Eric Dragomir had an affair and now his child is wandering somewhere around the world when his rightful place is in the court, voting against the decree.

"The queen left me a note telling not to tell many people about this, but she trusted me to find the second last Dragomir child so Lissa could vote."

I had said it so quickly that I wasn't sure that he heard it all correctly, but there was no way in hell that I was repeating it again.

"Serious." He made sure that I wasn't joking.

"Would I joke about something like that?"

He let out air that he had been holding in. "And now I see why you have to stay here." He said. "But where did you get the name from?"

"This dude in the park," he gave me a look, and I sensed that he would try to tell me not to believe some random rumor, but I cut in. "He knew what he was talking about. He sent a hobo after me to give me the message."

He did a double take. "A hobo? Really?"

"Missing the point."

"And to trust this hobo?"

"I trust that this leads somewhere. I just need to call her and meet up with her. Maybe she still lives with him or something."

He thought for a moment. "You really think this will lead us somewhere?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Us?"

He smiled. "Of course."

I honestly liked the sound of that.

I nodded. "I think it will."

He took that in. "Fine," he decided. "But use the payphone and make it quick. I don't want anyone trying to catch us."

I smiled, taking his hand then leading him over with me near the pay phone, dropping his hand to dig in my pocket for some change. Satisfied that I had enough money, I popped it into the slot and rung the number

It rang seven times. I was almost about to just hang up, but when someone picked up, I placed a dollar more in the phone.

"Hello?"

I swallowed. "Hi. It's...um...Anistasia."

It was a lady. A very unfriendly lady. "Who?"

"I know this is going to sound a little...strange, but do you mind if I ask you a quick question?"

There was a pause. "Sure. Knock yourself out."

"Do you have a son or daughter?"

There was no hesiation. "No."

All my hope flooded from me.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"I don't know. He's probably dead by now."

I paused. "So you did give birth?"

"Hmmhm." she confirmed.

I looked at Dimitri. "Do you think you could meet up with me and my...friend tommorrow?"

There was a short laugh. "Yeah. May as well. Got nothing better to do nowadays. Come by the coffee club tomorrow at nine. I'm always there anyway."

I breathed an inaudible sigh of relief. "Great. Thank you so much."

"I'm not doing you a favour," she growled.

"Okay."

She hung up the phone but I kept the phone to my ear for a moment longer before hanging it up myself.

"Well that was...interesting."

Dimitri waited. "So? What's going on?"

I looked at him and half smiled. "She was...interesting."

*NEW SCENE* (In case it doesn't come up)

"Uhh...Denis? What are you doing?" I asked as I walked cautiously into the room with Dimitri behind me.

He grinned. "Nothing."

"Is that my..." I trailed off, seeing it was my hair brush, and yes, he had shoved it down the back of his t-shirt to scatch his back with. "Oh, eww!"

He offered it too me.

I picked it up with two fingers by the handle that, hopefully, hadn't touched his back hairs. It dangled in the air before I threw it on my bed.

"What was wrong with your hair brush?" Dimitri asked, throwing his coat on his bed then walking over to mine and picking up the brush.

Denis shrugged.

Dimitri walked into the bathroom with the brush and ran some hot water.

"I can't believe you used my brush to scratch ya back!"

He shrugged. "It was itchy!"

"It'd better been the ichiest back in the history of the world." I warned.

"I got bit by a misquito. Nasty scab on there now thanks to that brush, but such a good scratcher."

I gagged a little. "Scab?" I squeaked.

He turned around and lifted his shirt to reveal a 'scab' that was bleeding freely. It had already started to peak through his shirt.

"Misquito bite?" I asked unbelievingly. "Really?"

"Hate scabs."

I sighed, walking into the bathroom with Dimitri, taking two cups of his hot water in a bucket, then walked into the kitchen and filled it with a cup of cool water. I got a cloth and dipped it in the water.

"Sit on the bed." I told him. "And take your shirt off."

He did as he was told, facing the bathroom where Dimitri came back in. He leaned against the wall, watching me clean off Denis' back, his arms crossed over his chest.

Denis stiffened whenever I touched him, but something like that had to be cleaned. When i was finished, I went over to the sink, picked up another cloth, dampened it in some clean water, then held it to his wound. Denis reached around to hold it to his back as best he could before deciding it was better to lie down.

"Tell me how you did that." I told him when I went to work tipping out the blood water and rinsing out the cloth.

"I told you. A misquito."

I sighed. "One big mother of a misquito if you ask me."

Denis frowned. "Huh. Maybe it was one of my scabs from combat classes."

Wrong again, but I didn't know that until Dimitri stepped in.

"Combat classes don't resolve in that kind of injury."

"Yeah. If anyone was gonna get hurt that way, it'd be me to Dimitri." I told him, but the joke was only subtle.

Denis smirked. "You kicked his butt? That's a first for anybody."

"She did not!" Dimitri argued.

"Did to. Pop quiz, remember? I wasn't even prepared."

He rolled his eyes at my childish behaviour, but I knew he knew it was just a joke.

"Now tell us how you got that," Dimitri got to the point.

Denis didn't know. He didn't say anything. We weren't trying to judge him, we were concerned.

I changed the subject. "Denis, how would you feel if Dimitri and I..." I looked to Dimitri, looking for a word, but found it before he knew what I was talking about. "Went on a date tomorrow?"

Denis frowned. "A date? I thought you were dating Ivashkov."

I shrugged. "I wouldn't call it a date, exactly...more like a friends getting coffee?"

Denis shrugged. "I guess. Sure."

I smiled. "Excellent."

*NEW SCENE*

The next morning, Dimitri and I were ready to go quicker than necessary, but we made sure we were ready for anything, which included getting all different types of weapons. And even though it was daytime, we still carried our 'pointy things'.

We walked down the street, looking around for the Coffee Club. We found it on a street which wasn't as fancy as the name.

We arrived at five minutes to nine.

We walked through the door on full alert, though I was pretty sure with no nausea that we were safe from Strigoi. Though, there were other things to worry about, but they couldn't be worse.

I scouted the room for the match of her voice to her body while Dimitri walked up to the counter and asked for Amelia Carter.

In the back of the room, though, I saw what I had imagined her to be. A forty year old women that dressed like she was thirteen.

I walked up to her slowly, clutching my knife.

"Amelia?" I asked.

She looked at me, giving me a death stare.

"Oh. You're that sunshine girl."

I raised my eyebrows. "Sunshine girl? Who the-"

"Amelia Carter. Hello." Dimitri cut in, placing a hand on my back to direct me to sit in front of her.

"What do you want?" she growled.

"I want to know what happened to your son." I told her.

She chugged down half of her cold coffee. "Theres nothing to tell."

"Tell me anything you can?"

She sighed, slamming her cup down. "I hooked up with this old man about twenty years ago." she said impatiently. "It was too late to get an abortion."

"So where is he now?" I asked as politely as I could.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I left him on the side of the road. Saw him get picked up by this short stubby guy. Never thought about him since."

"You just him there?" my temper was rising.

Dimitri held me down. "Do you know what he's called now?" he asked calmly.

"I don't know anything about him at all."


	17. Leads

Dimitri had to pull me out of the café after we had gotten our answers. Well, it was more like 'answers' because she didn't give us many. It's a guy and she'd left him on the side of the street for some idiotic, moronic…_idiot_ to pick up and just take away.

I was pissed off at how calmly she had said it too.

"She couldn't have known, Rose." Dimitri tried to sooth me as we walked with our hands on our jacket pockets away from the café.

"That's not the point," I insisted. "How could _anyone_ do that?"

He looked at me. "Not many people get to see the emotional side of Rose Hathaway," he said with a small smile. "I'm glad I'm one of them."

I rolled my eyes at his attempt to distract me. I was getting better and better at keeping on task nowadays.

"That was useless." I said suddenly. "We'll never find him."

Dimitri placed a hand on my shoulder. "I have an idea." He said smoothly. "Two actually."

"It's last hope, isn't it?" I guessed.

He nodded. "The police files may have something. All we have to look for is the files from twenty years ago about a baby found on the street."

"Yay," I said sarcastically. "Plan B?"

"We get blood samples from people we think may be the prince and get them DNA tested." He stated.

"And how many people can you think of that was left on the street in Las Vegas about twenty years ago when he was a baby?" I asked.

He thought for a second. I watched him frown.

"What?" I asked.

"I know one, but I'm not sure if he was left in Las Vegas or not. I highly doubt it actually."

"Who?"

He looked at me. "Denis."

My jaw hit the floor. "Wait, but…he's Russian…"

He nodded once. "Which is why I highly doubt it. But it wouldn't hurt to test it."

I shrugged. "Okay."

He thought for a moment more. "I'll see what I can get at the police station that doesn't involve me cracking into files,"

"That's my job," I interrupted. "I do that."

He rolled his eyes. "You go back to the room and convince Denis to take a blood test without telling him why we need it."

I smiled. "I get two jobs. Cool."

He smiled in a twinge of amusement.

We said our goodbyes one block from the apartment. We walked our separate ways.

When I caught the elevator up to our room, I was replaying over what I was going to say to Denis.

_Dimitri and I are worried about you. We want you to go to the doctors to get a blood test…_

Would it work? One way to find out.

The elevator dinged and I walked out onto our floor. I swiped the card three times, since this hotel was crappy, the key cards were too. I opened the door to a dark room, the curtains drawn, and not even the light bulb in the bathroom was lit.

I stepped into the room cautiously.

"Denis?" I asked quietly. I walked over to his bed, stroking the empty bed with three fingers as I past it, studying it. It was made perfectly, not so usual for him, and this hotel certainly didn't have cleaning staff.

My bed was made too, I saw through the darkness, and Dimitri's.

Something weird was going on.

Two breaths alerted me of an intruder. I froze, facing the bathroom with the door wide open. I didn't detect a Strigoi in the room. Maybe it was one of Denis' friends?

Like Dimitri, I highly doubted it.

I turned around as slowly as I had been walking, and then walked over to the light switch.

I didn't make it.

A hand covered in foul smelling cloth clamped over my mouth and nose. I tried to turn around and scream at the same time, but it was no use. It was like with Dimitri. He was too strong.

And it _wasn't_ Denis.

The foul smelling cloth's odor filled my lungs, and everything went black.

I couldn't understand why my wrists hurt. It felt like my circulation was being cut off. As my eyes drifted open slowly, and my vision started to clear, I groaned and tried to pull my hands down by my sides.

They were tied behind me, with a big, annoying pole in the way.

I was suddenly awake, looking at the dark meadow around me. I struggled to get the itchy ropes off of my hands, and failed. They were tighter than anything. I couldn't even fit a finger through it. I tried pulling away from the pole, and succeeded.

Between my hands and the pole was about ten centimetres of rope. I grabbed onto the pole. It was thin and wooden, and it didn't look very well supported in the ground. I was able to twist it out of the ground, but that didn't help that I was still attached to it.

I slid it back into the ground.

I knew I couldn't afford it at this time, but I slipped into Lissa's head, praying that I wouldn't have that giant headache later on.

"…I can't believe this! Why would he do it!" Lissa shouted in a cry at Christian. The last thing I wanted to happen was to take this out on Christian, which seemed to happen a lot considering I only rarely caught her at a happy moment.

Christian shrugged, obviously pissed off as well. "I thought he loved her."

"He does! That's what I don't get! He just handed her life to the court on a silver platter!"

Christian hugged her from behind, resting his head on her hair, kissing it.

"We have to go to Russia." She decided. "We have to save her."

_NO! No! No! NO!_

"Dimitri wouldn't just do that without reason…"

Dimitri sold me out? He told the court where I was?

Why would he do that?

He must have told the police to give the court the call, or he probably would have done it himself.

Idiot, Rose. You're the idiot for trusting someone.

"We're going, Christian. I don't care what you say-"

"We need to be on a plane ASAP." He said quickly. "Come on. She's saved all of our asses enough to let us save hers."

Shit!

I sucked back into my head, thankful that when I slumped on the pole it didn't fall down, and that my pendant popped out from under my shirt. No headache. Thank god.

"Well, well, well this _is_ a lovely sight." A voice cooed from the surrounding bushes.

I couldn't see the guy, but his voice had some familiarity. I kept talking in the hopes he would too, so I could uncover who he truly was.

"If this is lovely your sick." I spat out.

There was an evil laugh. "I guess I am."

There was a spark of ease that gave me the clue.

"Victor." I growled.

He walked out of the bushes with three Strigoi smiling at me behind him. I had suspected as much, but seeing it in real life still gave me that little gasp of shock.

"You idiot," I told him. "What have you done?"

He grinned, and then held up a small recorder that, originally, had been in my pocket.

"I know all about your little scheme to turn me into the court. But don't worry, that won't be necessary. Once I turn in your dead body, I'll gain my respect and feed them a pretty little story about how you forced me to escape the prison and demanded to see my brother. After that, of course, it'll be easy to blame everything on you."

I tried to attack him, but was rudely halted by my ropes. "You son-of-a-bitch." I growled.

He laughed again. "Classic."

"How'd you do it? How the hell did you get Strigoi on your side?"

He smiled. "I am giving them what they want."

"Offering them." I corrected. "But in the end, after you've influenced your group and it's led nowhere, you can't just let them off with all that knowledge. All that _hope_. You lead them into a battle they can't win."

"I'm impressed. You've been doing your homework. But apparently, a little _too_ much homework." He said. "What I want to know is how you know about Lissa's brother."

That was a little bit of a shock. "You know. Of course you know."

There was a smidge of a smile. "Of course. But you didn't answer my question."

"And I'll never answer your question," I told him. "You're not getting anything out of me."

He grinned, walking towards me. He stood in front of me as he lifted up my chin with his hands. "I always get what I want." He said.

And his hand came down on my face, sending me flying in the other direction. I wanted to collapse, but all I could do was slouch, hanging off the pole.

I felt blood dribble down my chin. I felt the cool breeze trying to dry it. I saw the Strigoi wanting to drink it.

I wiped it as best as I could on my shoulder.

"Now, again. How did you find it out?" he said as he lifted my chin to look at him again.

"An anonymous tip," I spat. "I listen to them often, you know."

He growled, slapping me again out of frustration.

"Why the meadow?" I asked.

He lifted an eyebrow and smiled at me from over his shoulder. "The plan."

I frowned. "What plan?"

He laughed. "The plan that if you don't co-operate, we turn you Strigoi and you burn in the sun at morning."

I ignored the fact that if I was a Strigoi, I could get out of this small set up.

He slapped my cheek three times softly. "They'll be here in a little more than twenty four hours. If you want something done that you couldn't do, get the professionals with a reason."

I tried to bite his fingers.

"You sold me out. You told them it was Dimitri."

He nodded. "And I'll be safe over near the cliff, out of sight while the fight happens, which, incidentally, you'll be ripped apart in."

"Fight?"

He grinned. "You didn't think I called the entire court over here for nothing, did you?"

**Hoping that the break worked….sorry about that, guys.**

**Anyhow, I know I left you with another major cliff hanger, but I promise that I will update with a massive amount. (And I know, Riddhi, I promised not any cliff hangers that are too major, but it's necessary).**

**Next chapter is going to have a HUGE cliff hanger. Sorry! And again sorry! But I won't be updating until SATURDAY! NOOO! Ha-ha. Maybe I'll try and put in two chappies tomorrow night.**

**I'm glad that I got a lot of reviews saying to tell about the book I'm writing and how its going. I'll be sure to tell you! Hopefully. But, I do write quite a lot of books, and I change ideas every now and again and it gets all….you know.**

**Anyway, the one I'm writing now is (hopefully) going to be called "Mermaiden" I have heaps of ideas to make this an awesome book. **

**Thanks for all the support!**

**Lauren**


	18. The war

The night was a blur.

As it progressed, I could not sleep. More and more Strigoi piled in around the edges of the bushes, planning to make their hide away for when the sun comes out. I tried to listen in. If we knew where they were in the daylight, it could but just like before.

I winced at that. Just like before brought up Dimitri in my head.

They were really quiet, though, and I could not hear them. Not that my neausea was doing _anything_ for me right now. Strigoi, at least fifty of them.

My mouth was still bleeding a little bit, but it was closing over, just before dawn. I would have a whole day of Victor Dashkov. Great.

I sucked on my lip, drinking the blood myself. Well, not drinking it, but something like that. Making sure _they_ didn't drink it.

The Strigoi dispersed into the shadows when the sun broke through, but I could still feel their eyes peircing my body.

"They'll come in the daytime, you know." I told him, a little smug. "Your Strigoi will be worthless."

He smirked. "I know."

My smile faltered, then I realised this was a repeat of what had happened before. "You should be predictable, but no one ever realises it."

"I've already found you. I've already got _him_. There's no more reason to stay in Las Vegas."

His footsteps made no sound as he walked towards me.

"You think they won't know it's you? They will." I threatened as he got to close.

"No. I don't think they will. You were a test to see if they would fall for it, and now you are one of the most wanted criminals in all of America."

He looked like he wanted to say something else, but then he looked behind me at the shrubs and smiled.

"And it begins."

I froze. There was no sign of the Strigoi anywhere now, except to my neausea. I swung around enough to look over at my shoulder.

Dhampirs.

I was shocked to see Lissa there too. And Adrian and Christian. I guess they must have proved themselves worthy of coming to help.

"RUN! It's a trap!" i screamed at them.

None of them listened to me. They only wanted to know the easiest option. But I knew Victor wouldn't come out of this alive.

Dimitri was at the front and to the side, pain staked into his eyes as he saw me all bruised and beaten up.

_Rose, are you alright?_

Lissa looked at me, a tear leaking from her eye. Did I really look that bad?

I nodded briefly to her, hoping that Dashkov wouldn't see.

Victor stepped towards me and the crowd of Dhampirs. "My family," he begun.

"They're not your family," I hissed. "This will never work."

"Could somebody please shut her up!"

Out of the shadows, a Strigoi threw Victor a white peice of cloth. I knew what came now. I tried to keep my mouth closed, but he shoved the white cloth around my head so tight, I couldn't keep it outside of my mouth. I chewed on it, even though it tasted like oil and something else I don't want to know.

Lissa gasped.

"It's okay, my brothers and sisters, I can deal with this traitor once and for all, and then we can be done with this all!"

"Even if we believed that you were our brother, you would not be the one to kill her." someone shouted from within the crowd. "She is rightfully ours."

Great. They were fighting over who would kill me.

Victor smirked. "Fair enough. Would you care to fight then?"

He snapped his fingers three times like some lame movie scene, and the Strigoi rose out of the black and into the seeable shadows which covered half of the Dhampir army.

There was a crowd of gasps.

_ROSE! HELP!_ Lissa screamed in my head out of fright.

I rolled my eyes when Abe stepped forward.

"So help me, Dashkov. Let her go!"

He shook his head as if he was having the time of his life, which, I guess, he was.

"Over my dead body."

The Strigoi ran into the crowd that wasn't in the sun, and the war began.

**HEY!**

**Okay so i got an email this morning asking me to help someone, (**FunXxAndXxFlyXx), and i tried to reply, but your PMs are disabled! Please Review me or PM me when you have disabled it so i can chat to you!

Also I know this is another cliff hanger, but hopefully (and i know some people will be like OMG!) i will be posting another TWO CHAPTERS! tonight. Maybe. Hopefully.

Mermaiden is going well. I'm taking it slow so i can finish this story first.

About Their choice - The next few chapters will seem like its the end of the story! And it kind of is, but its like a sub ending. There will be another part to it afterwards so dont panick!

Okay. Thanks for everything!

Lauren 


	19. Death is only the beginning

The fight went around me while I could do nothing.

I had to dodge some of the fighting, but other than that, I was shouting out to people so they wouldn't get a surprise attack from behind.

Dimitri was running towards me, killing Strigoi as he past. When he came to me, he pulled out his knife in one motion and cut the ropes. I pulled the stick out of the ground and swung it skillfully around the circle that was enclosing on Dimitri and me, full of Strigoi.

"We have to get you out of here!" he said, tugging me towards the edge of the fight. He handed me an extra stake just before we were split apart but three Strigoi.

I ran into the middle of the crowd where Adrian was kicking ass.

I backed up to him as a circle formed around us.

"Hey, how's it going?" I asked casually, not taking my eye of the Strigoi.

"Pfft. You ask that now _why?_"

I shrugged. "Good point."

The Strigoi moved in towards me, going for the throat by instinct. I struck him in the eyes.

"Something I gotta say," Adrian said.

"Then say it quick."

There was another move in on the both of us, but we took care of it.

"Go with him," Adrian said suddenly.

"Can't we talk about this later?"

"You know as well as anyone there may not _be_ a later."

I breathed out. "Thanks, Adrian. You know I'll always love you. Duck"

He ducked as I swung around with the stake.

We were pushed away again, us both trying to edge over to the side. I was struck in the arm and the leg by anonymous weapons from both Guardians and Strigoi alike. Nowhere was safe for me in this fight. I was me against the entire crowd. I had to move out.

I pushed and struck my way out of the crowd, but it was almost impossible to get out completely. I reached the edge, the breath completely knocked out of me. Ducking behind a tree was my best option, providing there were no Strigoi in the waiting.

Screams, grunts and gasps played in my head. As I looked back on the fight – no – the war, I couldn't help but think that this all happened because of me. This was all my fault. These people were dying because of me.

"Rose!" Dimitri yelled, ducking in and around the attacks that came towards him, of course, none of them were from Guardians. He pulled me into his chest so he could talk into my ear. "Victor ran around the outside of the army. Over there," he pointed to the back of the opposite side.

I looked to him. "I have to stop him."

He nodded. "I know. C'mon."

"Rosemarie!"

Abe ducked behind the tree, all bloodied and bruised.

"Not right now!" I shouted at him over the cry of the battle.

He grabbed my other shoulder so I would look at him. I shook it off.

"Don't you touch me." I growled at him.

He pulled me in and whispered a very long sentence in my ear. I didn't pay as much attention as I should have, since it was actually very important and could possibly save hundreds of lives. I understood after he told me, and I nodded.

Dimitri pulled me away from him, and we ran over to where Victor was.

END OF SCENE! (soz but ive tried everything!)

Victor was standing on the ledge, hovering over a cliff. He was expecting me, apparently, since he didn't seem too shocked as I walked into the clearing, completely cut off from the rest of the fight.

"Ah, Rosemarie Hathaway. Always going into things she not welcome."

Dimitri stepped out from the trees. Victor smirked at him.

"But some welcome you, I suppose."

"You won't get away this time, Victor. They'll see you for who you truly are. You'll be exposed by the court."

Victor laughed and snapped his fingers twice. Nausea built within me, and eight Strigoi stepped out of the trees. They aimed for Dimitri, attacked him from all sides. He wasn't able to help me anymore. The Strigoi had had a hold of his arms.

"Let him go!"

Victor shook his head. "I don't think so. Besides, if I let him go, I would have to let _you_ go too."

He snapped his fingers again, and suddenly, I was surrounded by Strigoi.

All looking to rip my throat out.

They came in from all corners. I didn't have my pole, which would have come in handy right now. One swipe and I may have knocked them back enough to get to Victor.

I had no time. I couldn't kill all of them at once, and I certainly couldn't kill them all one by one without another attacking me from behind.

"Ah, my sweet Lissa." Victor crowed from his ledge. I froze and turned around to Dimitri, and surely enough, Lissa was standing with him, along with Adrian, Christian and Eddie.

I was struck at the back of the head by my hesitation. I fell down on the ground, face planting onto the dirt. I groaned.

"NO!" Lissa screamed.

I picked myself up off the ground, powered by Lissa's fear.

There was a laughing around me, the Strigoi making fun of me.

I stumbled with my leg injury, but I stood tall as I walked over to Victor, slightly limping.

I climbed up, my stake between my teeth.

When I was fully standing in front of Victor, he ripped my stake out of my teeth, my body to weary to fight him back. He held the stake to my chest.

I was now facing him, a big cliff at my feet.

"I dreamed that one day you would be strong enough to fight me." He grinned, poking the stake at my chest hard enough to make a hole. Enough to bleed.

I saw out of the corner of my eye two things. One, Lissa screaming out to me. Two, the Strigoi looking at me like I was the tastiest piece of meat ever. Maybe to them I was.

Victor pushed me a little. "Today's not that day."

I held onto the stake at my chest. I knew I had given up. But I was tired and alone. I had no weapon.

Only a reason to live. But sometimes, that not enough.

"Any final words?" he asked bitterly.

I swallowed my pain and my needs. I smirked at him. "Death is only the beginning."

And I jumped off the cliff, falling towards my death.

END OF SCENE!

Victor had planned this all perfectly, but the flaw was the arrow sticking from his chest when he walked through the court, handcuffs around his wrists behind his back, and at least eight people taking him through the courtroom.

He was dropped in front of the judge after his walk of shame.

He was sentenced to the execution.

Lissa cried into Christian's shoulder almost all the time after the fight. Many people died. But they weren't just thrown aside anymore. I think that after everything has happened, they had a new frame of mind. They were all buried out the back of the court, a new section now warded for family and friends of the dead.

And despite being caught, Victor was still smiling as he was receiving the news. That he would die and no one, ever, would care about that.

"Maybe, then, I could share something?" he asked.

The judge let out a sigh of impatience. "What?" she asked bitterly.

"I would like to bring something to your attention," he addressed the whole room. He caught Dimitri's eye, standing in a corner with his arms crossed over his chest. He never smiled anymore, even more than before. He was still very upset. "Rose may be dead, but something still lives on through her…lover."

He was going to expose Dimitri. Dimitri clenched his fists and shook his head in angry disbelief at Victor.

"Can this please be moved forward," the judge said impatiently.

He smiled at her in a way that could be moved as flirting, but everyone knew that he was just satisfied with himself.

"Dimitri and Rose, you think, were just mentor and student. Not true."

There was an audible gasp followed along with small chattering around the courtroom.

He grinned. "So now I have exposed Rose and Dimitri, and killed Rose." He said. "Kill me."

"Gladly." I said standing behind him with the gun held the back of his head. It was touching, just so he knew where he stood here.

"Impossible," he said angrily.

I let the gun away from his head so he could see me.

"Nothing is impossible," I told him. "Besides, I told you so. Death is only the beginning."

He growled. "You're right," he said smoothly. "Nothing is impossible."

He produced a knife from within his pocket and stabbed me in the stomach.

I gasped as I fell back.

"NO!"

I fell on the ground, clutching my stomach.

My eyes were slowly drifting to a close. I felt Dimitri hovering over me, supporting my neck.

"Rose! Come on, stay awake! GET THE PARAMEDICS! Rose!"

I brang his lips down on mine for three seconds before coughing out to the side. Blood leaked out of my mouth.

"I love you, Dimitri."

I passed out after that.

**LOL! I killed her twice! haha!**

**Okay, to prevent any confusion, she didn't actually die to begin with. **

**Hope you like it, and may i say YAY! I'M FOURTEEN! FINALLY! Haha**


	20. The Great Infirmary Escape

My life was flashing before my eyes. Nothing ever looks the same, watching it as it twirls around you, like a hurricane of memories, threatening to eat you, to consume you. But it was comforting, in a way. I thought about death all my life, but I never thought it was this…amazing.

I was spinning. So many smiles, so many happy memories stopped just for a second to let me watch before disappearing behind a cloud of rain and depression. It made me smile, so much that I could forget about the last memory disappearing.

Some would stop for a long time, like the first time I ever saw Dimitri for who he really was to me. It was when I tried to beat him up the first time, and he ended up pinning me on the floor.

Like I said, it wasn't like how I remembered it before. How I experienced it when I was actually there, feeling his strong, muscular chest against mine. Looking at it, I saw I was smiling, like I was almost about to laugh. I could see his lips twitching too, reacting to my smile. I never noticed that. Well, I couldn't remember seeing that anyway.

It disappeared behind the cloud, but I couldn't feel sorry for it. A new memory, one closer to real life, appeared in front of my eyes.

"The way I see it," I said was a small, teasing smile playing on my lips. "We're not guardians _yet_."

He leaned down to kiss me. We were smiling against each other's lips. Such a happy memory. I think it was the first kiss with Dimitri without being influenced by anything. Not anger or trying to prove a point. We were kissing for each other, nothing else.

Smiles and laughter filled around me then. It was Lissa's laughter. Lissa's smile.

I would never see that again. Even if I did survive this. What about Lissa's metal health? She had seen me die twice, well, not die exactly, but she thought I was. Both times.

Would I ever get out of this hurricane?

This the second time I died, since jumping off the cliff didn't actually kill me. It really just hurt me. Really, really, hurt me.

Did I experience this already? Did I lose memories? Important ones?

Nah….I hoped.

"She's going to be alright," a voice echoed around. "It wasn't that. Everything that has happened to her….mind has got to heal…."

"….three days…"

I could recognize that voice anywhere. It sound so worried for me….

What was his name again? Uh…shoot. I knew it was important…

Dimitri. That was his name. Dimitri. Yes, the one I loved more than anything in the world.

"….not over…have…yourself…"

Adrian. That was Adrian's voice. He sounded depressed, like he was giving something up. I felt sorry for him, like I wanted to calm him. To give him a big hug and tell him everything was alright, even though it wasn't.

"…when…"

Lissa. I could tell she was crying at the sight at me from my body, no me, lying…wherever I was lying. Whether I just knew her or I could sense it through the bond I didn't know. But I did.

"…three….any…"

It was the doctor again. The nurse or whoever.

Where the hell was I? I guessed it was the Court's infirmary.

It seemed like a minute, just like in a dream, which was really about an hour. I shot up out of bath, breathing heavily, sweat dripping down my nose. I clutched my chest, it throbbing with pain from sitting up right. I touched it, and flinched in the pain it brought me. I rolled up my singlet to see a bandage wrapped around my waist, a small pad placed over my wound.

I was so glad Lissa didn't help me. She needed her strength at a time like this.

I pulled my singlet back down before ignoring the pain and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. I jumped down, surprised by the height of the bed. I stumbled for a moment, but quickly gained my balance and smiled.

I walked out of the room quietly, glad that I didn't have any shoes on. I had clothes on, thankfully. I would send a muffin basket to the person who fought to keep me out of hospital clothes, the ones without backs.

"She'll wake up very shortly-"

I ducked behind one of the beds as the nurse walked by, talking to someone, possibly about me. They were walking towards my bed, so as soon as they were out of sight, I ran out of the infirmary of the court.

"She's…!"

I wasn't there long enough to hear them. I ignored the pain and ran, ducking and hiding every now and again to avoid people.

I ended up running all the way across the court, all the way to the other side.

All the way to the cemetery.

I didn't intentionally want to go there, but I guessed it was just the draw I had towards the dead.

I knew about the dead being buried in the court, in a new part that was now warded, but I never knew how big it was.

And half of it was already filled up.

So many stones filled with names engraved delicately onto the polished surface. So many numbers, for life and death. So many death numbers the same, some grouped into previous battles.

A silent tear leaked from my eye as I looked through all the isles. I sat down, clutching my knees, looking out on the cemetery, ignoring the pain it did to my stomach.

"Rosemarie Hathaway please go back to the infirmary! Rose Hathaway to the infirmary now!" a voice echoed through the court. I couldn't see anyone anymore, but I could only imagine Lissa's reaction to me being awake, but to me running away from the infirmary, she'd be a little concerned.

I was too tired to find out. She was safe. That was all that mattered.

Time passes, then it's gone. It passed, and I didn't know how long I sat there, scanning the names I could make out on the nearest tombstones.

"Roza?" a soft voice came from behind.

I turned my head around, exposing a tear sliding down my face.

Whatever hardness that was on his face vanished the instance he saw that glisten. He sighed in sorrow and worry for me, then came to sit beside me. I turned my head back around before he did.

He pulled me into him so I could lean against his chest.

"So many people…" I whispered.

He held me tighter. "I know."

"This is all my fault…"

He stiffened. "Why do you say that?"

I sniffled. "If I never existed, the court wouldn't have come to the meadow. If it wasn't for me, Victor wouldn't have had bait for the court."

"If it wasn't for you, Victor may have killed Lissa. Or someone else. If it wasn't for you, Adrian never would have known what spirit was."

"If it wasn't for me," I argued. "There wouldn't have been an example for the decree. It wouldn't have gone forward."

He paused. "The decree has been terminated, Rose," he said. "They saw how much mental damage was done to you. They found another way."

I was surprised, but it was good.

"Great." I said, trying to mean it in my voice.

He sighed. "Oh Roza…"

My eyes were still scanning the stones, but one name caught my eye. I stood up quickly.

Dimitri caught me before I could take my second step towards it.

"Rose, I don't think that'd be healthy…"

I pushed against his arms, now wrapped around my waist.

"Please…" I cried to him.

"Rose…" he warned.

I ducked under his arms, my stomach screaming in protest. He seemed to give up, knowing that I really wanted to see this, but he held my hand as I pushed to see it.

One name stood on that stone. There was no one in the grave.

Yet.

Rosemarie Hathaway. Born – 1992 Died – 2010

"You knew they thought you died, Rose." He said. "What were they going to do?"

I looked at my grave once more, and then turned to him. "Are they just going to leave my stone there?"

He had no answer. He didn't know.

"I guess I may as well be dead," I muttered.

He grabbed both of shoulders gently and turned me towards him, making me look him in the eyes. Not that I would never want to look him in the eyes, but this way, I would have no chance to look away.

"Never say that," he told me. "Without you…"

I looked at him.

"Without you….I would never know what it was like to love something more than my family."

Despite myself, I smiled a little. I leaned into him again, staring at my grave.

"But there's something you should see," he added.

I let him pull me around, about three hundred metres away from my grave. Huh, that sounded strange. My grave. It was strange in a bad way.

When I saw the next grave stone, I collapsed in tears, Dimitri holding me. He went down with me, supporting me as I sobbed into my shaking hands.

Eddie Castle. Born – 1992 Died – 2010

"No!" I cried.

Dimitri didn't relax. He didn't move. He didn't say anything.

"It can't be," I sobbed. "I saw him. He was with you and Adrian and-"

"We fought after that, Rose. It went on for another ten minutes."

That was news to me. But then again, thinking that as soon as Victor was under control, the Strigoi were too, was a little….impossible.

"Roza?" Dimitri asked cautiously.

I didn't acknowledge him. I was still staring Eddie's grave.

"He couldn't have-"

"I'm sorry, Roza. I'm so sorry." Dimitri hushed me, pulling me up from the ground and into his arms.

"This can't be happening," I mumbled into his chest. "It doesn't make sense. It happened."

He rubbed my shoulder and kissed my hair. "I know, Roza. I know."

**HEY!**

**OMG! My twentieth chapter! Hurray!**

**I had an awesome birthday, thanks. And i actually got a laptop, so i can now write more when im sitting in bed. And that means more chapters! :)**

**But, sadly, on tuesday i go back to school for my second term :( But its okay. I stay up until 11 on school nights anyway, and that should be plenty of time :) it'll be the same hopefully.**

**A lot of you are saying how confused you all are with the last chapter. Its okay. It was meant to do that. It should be explained next chapter so breathe in and out.**

**Thanks**

**Lauren**


	21. Lissa Troubles PLEASE READ ENDING!

I didn't remember this infirmary bed to be so uncomfortable. The nurse was very disappointed with me, but not enough to say that she hated me. I mean, everyone was a little uncomfortable with me being back and all, seeing as for about three weeks I was America's most wanted.

I was hungry, thirsty and uncomfortable, so when lunch time came along, I was so thrilled to hear that food was on its way.

"Oh, and also?" the nurse said as she started to walk out the door. "Dimitri came to check in on how you were doing."

I brightened. "Really?"

She nodded. "Yep."

I waited for her to say something else, and when she didn't, I stated what I wanted. "So send him in."

She looked at me like she was decided whether she should be disgusted, disappointed, or hateful. I had completely forgotten about Victor exposing us, so whether she was one of those emotions because Dimitri was seven years older than me, or that because we were both Dhampirs, I didn't know.

"After your soup." She said.

I sighed in a grumble, but didn't push.

She walked out of the room.

I reached for the remote that would sit me up in the bed. I didn't care what people thought about me and Dimitri. Well, I cared what me friends thought. But her? Pfft.

Well, at least that's what I tried to convince myself. The truth was that I would like everyone to be okay with it, but I guess some people were just too…childish.

That sounded funny coming from me, even though no one would ever hear it.

She returned with a bowl of Pumpkin Soup.

Great.

She passed me a spoon and fixed up the blanket that covered my legs. I took a sip.

And sprayed it all over her face.

If she didn't hate me before, she did now.

She looked at me, Pumpkin Soup dripping from her face. I smiled at her in a sheepish grin while she glared at me and stormed away.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly as she exited the door. I doubted she heard me.

I sat the soup next to me, hoping I would find an opportunity to ditch it somewhere. It was disgustingly bland and tasted like raw potatoes and onions.

Yuk.

"I know you don't like it in here but you don't have to chuck on the nurse. It's not her fault your stuck here."

I looked over to the door to see Lissa grinning.

I rolled my eyes. "It was Pumpkin Soup. You want some?"

She walked over to the bedside table and peered into the bowl. "It's like…brown."

I smiled. "I have nothing against the nurse."

She played with the liquid with the spoon in distaste.

"How's everyone going?" I asked her. "I mean, I'm sorry for that. I didn't know I'd die a second time."

She looked at me. "You knew you'd die the first time?"

I sighed. "It was Abe's idea. We needed me out of the equation so the court could focus on the true culprit. That way, they wouldn't be so…obsessed with the idea that I did it."

She looked at me. "And you didn't even think to tell me?"

"Well I didn't really have any time! He told me, like, five minutes before I jumped off the cliff."

She breathed in a little too deep. I guessed she hadn't gotten over the fact that I had jumped off the cliff.

She sat down on my bed, avoiding sitting on my feet.

"You've got to tell me everything, Rose. I know it was you. I know you put that arrow in him. How?"

I smiled. "You know me too well."

She smiled too. "I know." She said. "But I mean it. How did you do it? If you didn't know it well enough to tell me, how did you get it so perfect?"

I sighed and reached for the remote that would sit me up farther so I could talk to her properly.

"Liss…" I whined slightly. "look I know you want to know, but until I can tell everyone at the same time…I can't do it. I need to let everyone know what happened, exactly what happened, so stupid rumours don't spread and I don't get myself into even more trouble."

"You know I won't tell anyone." She pleaded.

"I know." I told her. "I trust you. But I don't exactly want to have to repeat myself; it's a very long story."

She sighed, giving in.

"How are you, Lissa?" I asked suddenly.

She looked at me with somewhat of a shock. "I thought you'd know that better than me."

I smiled slightly. "I only know as much about you as you do yourself."

She smiled too.

"But," I continued. "Lately, I just can't…get the energy. I don't know, I'm not tired. I just…can't."

She frowned. "Are you concerned about it? Should we?"

I shrugged as best I could, despite my stomach's protest.

"Why are you asking me? You have your own opinions, Lissa."

Her body relaxed, her arms flopping down. "Sorry."

"Why are you sorry? You've done nothing wrong."

She didn't reply.

"Where's Dimitri?" I asked her, changing the subject, though I was a little worried I was being rude. A first for me, I think.

She grinned, so I guessed I was in the clear. "He's outside. He sent me in and asked me to tell you he'll see you later. I guess he needed to go somewhere, huh?"

"How would I know?"

This time, she shrugged. "I just thought…with you loving him and all…"

"I don't know where he needs to go," I admitted. "It's okay though."

"I can bring him back-"

"No, no. Go enjoy your life, Liss. Don't even think about me being cramped up in here."

She looked at me meaningfully. "Why does it seem like your saying goodbye?"

"Because I don't want you to have to suffer in here with me." I told her.

She shook her head. "No. I don't mean that."

"Then what?"

"Every time you talk to me lately…it's like your saying goodbye…for good. Then I almost lost you….twice! Come on, Rose."

This was news to me.

"I'm not saying goodbye, Liss. I'd never say goodbye, not if it was the most important thing to me in the world."

A tear fell from her eye. "You haven't just left me, Rose. You've lost me."

She got up from the bed and started to walk out the door.

"LISSA!" I shouted. She turned around, more tears dripping down her face. "Please." I pleaded.

She shook her head. "What happened to us, Rose?" she cried. "You used to be there for me. Always."

I swung my legs over the side of the bed, not even scrunching in pain as I got up and walked over to her in a run.

"I always have, Liss. I always will. Why don't you believe me?"

She looked me deep in the eyes. She saw something there, and then leaned into my shoulder. I hugged her tightly, resting my face in her hair.

"Lissa," I said. "You mean the world to me. You and Dimitri are my world. I wouldn't give you up for anything, and I'll never ever say good bye for real. If I die tomorrow, Liss, I'll still be here," I poked at her chest which was covering her heart. "In your heart."

"And if you run away? What then? You just leave me here?"

I rubbed her shoulder. "Then I'll be with you whatever chance I get."

She pulled away. "You let me come with you before. Please, let me come again. You being in my head isn't the same as having you here."

I looked at her. "What's got you so worried all of a sudden?"

She swallowed. "You've died three times in my mind. I saw them all. What happens if next time you 'go' somewhere, and you don't come back?"

"I'm not going anywhere." I assured her. "We'll stay here. We'll go to your college. That's what you want, right?"

She rubbed her shoulders, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Of course, but…I want to take a year off. Go to college when I'm ready."

"You've always been ready, Liss." I told her. "You can do it."

"I want to stay where it's safe. Where you're safe. For once in my life, I don't want to have to think of Strigoi or my guardians, or what's around the next corner. I want to stay safe, with you, and just…hang out. For once! Just like old times.

"I want everything to go back to the way it was."

I grabbed her shoulders like Dimitri had done with me so she would look me in the eyes.

"Lissa. This is our life. It's never going to change." I said softly in a half whisper. "I have a job to do, and you have a life to live. It's not what we thought back then. Its not just you and me hanging out all the time and me just doing all the work. The old times were lying to us."

Another tear fell. I pulled her in for a hug so she could cry into my chest.

I felt a tingle on my wound, all my pain vanished.

I jumped back from her and looked at my wound, peeling off the patch to expose fresh skin.

I looked at her disapprovingly. "Liss…"

"You were hurting. It's better now."

"You can't just-"

"Roza?"

I looked over to the doorway, seeing Dimitri looking at with my shirt half pulled up. I shoved my shirt down, taking off the bandages completely from under my shirt and shoving them on the bed.

"Don't do it again." I told Lissa.

She grinned. "Only if you don't get hurt again." She smiled.

I rolled my eyes, but was pleased that this conversation was over.

"I guess you don't need to stay in here then?" Dimitri raised an eyebrow at me. I was getting better at it, but it wasn't really the type of this you could really teach someone. Maybe I'd ask him for some tips.

I brightened. "No more soup!"

He laughed. "The nurse isn't very happy with you."

"I guess I have to send another muffin basket?" I asked him lightly.

He smirked playfully and brang my hips into him.

"I'm so glad you found Rose, Guardian Belikov," Lissa muttered audibly.

Dimitri smiled at her. "Thank you, Princess."

"Call me Lissa."

He held his hand out to her, like he was meeting her for the first time. "Please, call me Dimitri."

She smiled and took his hand.

"Oh! Rose! Sorry, I forgot about this. Christian's bailing on me for that…dinner thing tonight. Very A-list. Very formal. He hates it and dobbed you in."

I groaned, but agreed to go. She looked to Dimitri. "And you'll be there?"

He nodded. "Of course."

She squealed in excitement. "Excellent." Then she looked at me. "But you might want to get your story straight. They'll want your epic tale of survival."

I laughed. "I'll prepare."

She grinned and hugged me before walking out the door.

Dimitri looked at me. "Soup?"

I laughed. "Don't ask."

He took my hand. "Fair enough. C'mon."

I paused. "You're being awfully chalant about all this." I held up our hands.

He sighed. "What's done has been done. Might as well make the best of it." He said, and then hesitated. "Chalant? Is that even a word?"

"It's the opposite of nonchalant, duh."

He looked like he wanted to correct me, but then thought better.

Someone walked by, and I slipped my hand out of Dimitri's.

"Sorry," I told him. "I keep seeing my mom everywhere."

He laughed. "She must be close then."

I rolled my eyes and nudged him playfully, but it didn't faze him at all.

Now I needed to know what I was going to say to everyone at the dinner tonight.

**Haha. The story is exactly 2000 words :)**

**The next chapter will explain everything I promise, and I have a lot more drama coming. **

**Oh…the dinner. This is going to explain so much, just wait and see. **

**Sorry for any mistakes but I am still getting used to this new keyboard. Everything is squished in together, is kind of hard to know what I'm pressing.**

**The Mermaiden is going well. Now I have my laptop I can write even more without getting a sore back, which I am absolutely thrilled about. (I get a sore back cause the back of my computer chair has come off) I haven't got much on it, but I've got the Prologue which is about three thousand words which sort of begins the whole book and introduces…four characters? Yeah. I think its going to be quite good.**

**Hopefully I can finish it and get it published :)**

**Oh, on that note, I am looking for a high school to put into the book. Could you send some suggestions that you want to see in it? Also please send a description of the school and the surroundings (Eg. In a small town (name of town please) like any other with mountains surrounding it. The valley is lovely and green, but the town is quite a bad place to live. Many of the high school students drink and smoke and have lost their virginity. It is a small school with about 400 to 500 students in it called (name) high school. It's about 30 minutes away from its closest 'city' called Hobart in Tasmania Australia.)**

**Please make it quite descriptive, but you don't have to go overboard. I'll pick one where I think is the best for the story, and if I pick yours, I'll email you and ask more questions about it.**

**Prize? You get a shout out :) haha!**

**Thanks!**

**Lauren**


	22. Confrontations

Going back into my room, I found all my clothes and other things that I had left behind…

Stacked in boxes with a stamp saying 'incinerate'. Lissa had saved my stuff, so I still had something to wear tonight to the dinner. My guardian uniform would do well, since I didn't actually intended to be socializing that much. Staying in the corner, tell my story, and then go to bed. That was the plan.

Lissa still didn't get why me and Christian hated this so much, but dressing up was her thing, not ours.

I sat on my bed, tying at my shoes. They were just as uncomfortable as I imagined, and it had never felt better. I looked at myself in the mirror, straightening out my collar with a smile plastered on my face. The uniform, to me, represented me belonging here again. I did belong here again, and I hopefully, I didn't fuck it up again.

But to be honest, it still wasn't my fault, no matter how many ways you look at it. But it was still nice to belong again, to be seen as innocent again.

But after tonight's dinner, I doubted it would last very long.

As soon as everyone saw me, they would be reminded of Victor's little show and look at me, more importantly, _him_, in disgrace. Maybe if I reminded them that I was a fully pledged Guardian with the uniform, like it had reminded me, things would go smoothly.

I doubted it, but it was worth a short.

I tied my hair behind my head and left my make-up behind.

I breathed out, took one last look at myself, and then left, locking the door behind me.

Dimitri and I decided before that we would stay apart until we were questioned, and if by the slightest, insignificant chance that we _weren't_ questioned tonight, we would wait until we were. Some part of me wanted to be questioned, but then I thought about the accusing faces and disapproving glances…I think not.

I walked down to Lissa's room, knowing from the bond that she was there. It started to work again after I got some well deserved rest. I picked her up there, absorbing her disapproving look as she saw what I was wearing, but shrugged it off and walked with me down to the main hall.

The room was crowded with people, just like I guessed. They all watched me as I said good bye to Lissa so she could socialize while I stood in the back.

"Oh come on, Rose!" she pleaded. "I'm not that bad to hang out with, am I?"

I laughed. "Go and mingle. You can come and talk to me later, okay?"

She nodded and walked off.

I stood with the other guardians, trying to keep myself hidden.

"Rosemarie Hathaway." The microphone echoed through the hall after about a half an hour of standing.

I took a deep breath and then excused myself through the crowd so I was visible from on stage.

It was someone I didn't know, but, like everyone in the court, he knew what was going on.

"Yes?" I asked.

He didn't blink. "I think I speak for everyone here today when I ask for your story. We are all very curious."

"Depends which _story_ you're talking about!" someone shouted from the crowd.

I kept my head held high as I walked up to the stage, sitting on the edge of it so my feet dangled off of it, and took the wireless microphone from the man.

"How's it going?" I asked gently into the microphone, testing it. I cleared my throat. "Okay. You want to know what happened back at the fight. I'll tell you…

"After I was cut free from the pole, I was pushed to the other circle of the fight. People were coming at me from all sides, so I hid, helping the Guardian's where I could. Dimitri alerted me that Victor had run to the back of his army, so I followed him. But before I did, my father, Abe Mazur, pulled me over and whispered the plan into my ear.

"It made sense. We both knew that the court would have to be thinking about Victor instead of me while he was in the trial. He told me to pretend to die in any way possible, of course, so everyone would think I was dead.

"It was luck when there was a perfectly good cliff there. But I just didn't realise how deep it was.

"I jumped off the cliff after Victor held the weapon to my chest. I fell down, trying to stabilize myself on something so I wouldn't die. But no, I hit the ground hard, spread out over sharpish rocks.

"I was immobile for a little while. I passed out, but Abe found me and his men carried me towards a helicopter that was waiting one hundred yards away. We snuck around the bushes, but I couldn't just leave my friends to fight Victor Dashkov alone, especially knowing that I just died.

"So I _borrowed_ one of the fallen warrior's bow and arrow and shot him.

"Then, of course, I went back to Abe's secret little hide-out-y thingy and was patched up. Then I was flown back to the academy for Victor's trial, again.

"I didn't get there in time to greet my friends again before the trial. I heard what Victor was saying and hid out in that little lobby area before I walked in. They needed my help, but I felt that I should have done it.

"Then you know how I got stabbed and everything so there's no need to explain that. " I concluded.

No one spoke for a moment, but slowly, the noise crept up with shocked murmurs.

"Oh, my god," I heard.

"That was so cool!"

"Amazing."

I waited to let people think what they wanted to think, knowing that after this, the question that played on everyone's mind would come up, and I would _not_ let them think what they want to think.

I saw Dimitri out of the corner of my eye, standing to the back of two guys who were looking at me in shock. His smile was enough to encourage me to continue.

"And what about the other situation?" that same person shouted.

"Who _is_ that?" I scanned the crowd.

The person shut up.

"I don't know what you want me to tell you, to be honest."

I looked into the crowd, daring the person to ask the question. I sighed.

"So what do you want me to say? I love Dimitri? I do. It's wrong? I don't believe so. That I'll cut it off and no one has to speak of it again? I'm not going to do that."

No one talked.

Dimitri smiled at me as he came to stand beside me.

"There's nothing to say, really," Dimitri told the court, coming up to sit next to me. "I love Rose Hathaway. She's the most beautiful, kind hearted, dedicated…amazing woman there is for me."

I looked down in embarrassment.

He continued. "No one can tell me right now that they haven't been in this sort of situation before. You want something, but you know how everyone will react? I know every single one of you has been through that. It just so happened this was my," he looked to me. "Our, experience."

There was a mixture of murmurs around the crowd.

"We don't care!" Lissa shouted from the crowd, walking up to the front. She sat up with us. She took the microphone from Dimitri. "I'm supporting them."

"I am too!"

Christian walked up to the stage and sat besides Lissa.

"I thought you weren't coming!" she said in shock.

"And miss Rose's famous little speech? I don't think so."

Me and Liss laughed.

"Thanks, Christian." I smiled at him.

He winked at me, hugging Lissa.

I knew everything wasn't going to be fine and dandy, but when my mom walked towards me and Dimitri, her face sketched with disappointment, I tried, unsuccessfully, to keep from crumbling in disgrace under her graze.

"mom." I greeted her.

She shook her head. "Don't do it, Rose. Don't."

"I'm sorry."

She sighed. "I thought I knew you better than that."

**Hey!**

**Okay, so this explains some of what happened with Rose while she died the first time. A summary, she was broken when she jumped off the cliff, but it was all a plan. Abe fixed her up.**

**Thank you for all the reviews. I always am. I really appreciate it, and it makes me smile to see people say things like 'I thought this was leaked from the actual last sacrifice'. Best review I have gotten yet! Thank you!**

**Sorry I didn't get the chapter out quicker but I wrote it the first time I really didn't like it, so I cut some out and changed it around a bit.**

**The Mermaiden update.**

**I got a lot of great ideas for which town should be in its place. I think that it seems that everyone is leaning towards the town I described, which actually happens to be my hometown in Tassie called Huonville. **

**I also got a PM asking for a short preview, so I decided that I would post a possible blurb for it (its not official or anything, but it tells about the book)**

She's happy

Change sucks.

Assigned to a prince

He doesn't belong

Failed rebellion

Too bad

Death?

No second chance

He meant everything to me, but his love dissolved in water.

**So yeah, that's pretty much it so far. Leaves you wondering, huh. Tell me what you think, and trust me, it's better than the blurb. I just don't want to give it away :)**

**Lauren**


	23. Revivals

Lissa was happy. Extremely happy. I didn't know if it was relief from pressure or stress, or just because she felt the need to be happy. But she was laughing with Christian more than I had ever seen her laugh with anyone. It placed a smile on my face from the back corner of the room just watching her have a good time.

Mom had walked out on the party, making it notified to the rest of the guardians before she left. I knew she thought I was making the biggest mistake of my life, but she was still obsessed with this insane idea that I would get knocked up at my age.

It wasn't even possible between me and Dimitri, not that we wanted a child.

We behaved professionally, smiling at each other maybe once or twice, but other than that, stayed at opposite ends of the hall.

I watched Lissa have one last flirt with Christian then make her way over to me. Christian was left behind, now talking to Adrian.

"Are you ready to leave?" I asked her.

Dimitri noticed me talking to her and guessed what I had guessed. He walked around the back of the guardians and out the front door where he would, no doubt, be waiting for us.

She nodded. "I don't want to get too drunk in front of the entire court."

I laughed and helped her stand up, just in case she felt a little woozy.

I led her out that same door.

"Are you okay?" I asked her when we found Dimitri. He walked with us silently towards Lissa's room. "I would have thought Christian would be the first one complaining to leave."

She shrugged. "He'll be going soon. Well, that's what he told me. He just wanted to talk to someone first."

"Someone?" I thought of Adrian.

"Yeah. I don't know either, but I trust him."

I smiled. "That's good. You and Christian are, like, made for each other."

She laughed and hugged me. "Thanks, Rose."

We reached her room quicker than I had expected. Dimitri stood outside the door while I got her changed into her pyjamas, then came to assist me in giving her some Panadol and water. The last thing I wanted for her in the morning was a major hang over.

She crawled into bed wearily after taking the drugs and water and fell asleep within no time.

We locked the door behind us as we walked out of the room.

Dimitri put an arm around my shoulders and smiled at me. "Well done."

I smiled back. "I should say the same for you. Now that everything's explained, I feel much better."

He agreed silently.

I hesitated.

"Is there something wrong?"

I looked at him. "it's not to late. I was thinking…"

He lifted an eyebrow.

"That I could go out of the wards for a moment. You know how I feel about that graveyard…if I could just get them to talk to me, especially Eddie….I'd feel as good as I can get right now."

He rubbed my arm. "Can you not do this in the morning? It's been a long day for you."

I laughed. "I've just spent three days in bed, Comrade. Do you really think I want to go back there just yet? Unless you're tired. I could go-"

"I'm going with you," he interrupted.

I smiled. "Thought you might want to. I just…need to see something. I just need to make sure Eddie's okay."

Without a word, we started to head towards the front of the court.

It was quite cold outside, but our Guardian jackets were more than enough to keep us warm. Well, that, and we had each other's body warmth.

I stopped walking when I saw the front of the gates, just a couple of hundred yards from us. Dimitri looked at me with concern.

I turned to him in a short panic. "What happened to Denis?"

He smiled. "He's undergone the DNA test. We're waiting for the results. Should bee any day now."

"Where is he?"

"He went back to Russia. After the DNA results confirm his true identity, he'll move into the court with us. The decree will be eliminated."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "that's good to hear. How is he, anyway? I mean, it must be tough for him, thinking all these years that he was Victor Dashkov's when he wasn't."

He shrugged. "I'm guessing he's taking it pretty well. I know him. If anyone can survive this, it's him."

I smiled and kept walking. "I knew he'd survive it, but…I don't know."

He rubbed my arm again. "You were concerned for him."

I nodded.

We reached the gates. Dimitri talked to the guard and convinced him to open the gates enough to let us through.

As soon as I passed the ward, the headache started to arrive, but it wasn't bad. A rush of wind past by me for a second, and I saw him. Eddie.

"Eddie…"

He looked sad, like all ghosts did, but I could tell he was happy to see me alive. The last thing he'd seen of me, I realised, was me jumping off the cliff.

"Are you okay?" I asked, a tear running down my cheek. I tried to swallow it down, but I didn't succeed. It dribbled down my cheek. "Are you happy, Eddie?"

He tried to smile, and he did, but it didn't look good on ghosts. He nodded, then looked behind him. There was a shining light behind him, and I could just make out Mason's etched face in the fog.

"You're with Mason." I smiled. "That's good."

He smiled, but it faltered. He pointed to me, and then tried to act out me falling off the cliff as best he could with his hands.

"I'm so sorry, Eddie. I didn't mean to scare you."

He shook his head. That wasn't what he meant.

He pointed to himself, then pointed towards the light behind him, before at me, then the ground he was hovering over.

Another tear leaked. "You were waiting for me."

He nodded.

I turned towards Dimitri, three tears now visibly running down my face. "He was waiting for me to join him."

Dimitri wiped the tears off my face before I returned to Eddie.

"I'm so sorry," I told him. "So, so, so sorry."

He nodded.

"Are you happy? Are you really happy? I need to know…"

He tried to smile again.

"Everyone joins eventually…" he whispered.

"What do you-"

But he was gone.

He was replaced by Victor.

I backed up towards Dimitri slowly, grabbing his hand and leading him back with me.

"What do you want?" I asked bitterly. "I win, why are you still here?"

"All people die."

He smirked, then, in his misty cloud, rolled towards me. I tried to move out of his way, but he was, after all, a ghost. He reached inside of me somehow, and made ever muscle in my body scream with pain.

Dimitri dragged me back, screaming instructions that I did not hear at the guard. When I was inside the wards, I stopped screaming. Every muscle relaxed, and I fell onto my hands and knees before lying down on my back.

"Rose?"

I gasped. "I'm…fine."

I sat up slowly with help from Dimitri.

"What is going on? What was that?"

I gulped. "Dashkov," I gasped. "He…he tried to…"

What exactly did he try to do? Sure, he made every bone in my body go completely berserk, but what was his goal?

I knew it. I didn't know how I did, but I did.

"He…he tried to kill me."


	24. Romantic

After so many infirmaries that I had been too, the courts infirmary definitely was my favourite, but that didn't mean that I loved being in there at all.

I glared into space in pure frustrations while I was being examined, since they did not listen the last hundred times that I had told them 'I am fine!'

Dimitri rubbed my hand while the nurse dragged a flashlight in front of my eyes, telling me to follow it. I didn't. I glared at her instead.

"I'm fine. Why won't anyone believe me?"

"We believe you, Roza," Dimitri soothed. "We're just being sure."

I sighed impatiently. "Well _I_ think it's a waste of time."

"You would." The nurse smirked. I felt sorry for her, but at least the pumpkin soup didn't stain her face.

I tried to get up, but there were hands everywhere pushing me down again.

"Follow the light." The nurse commanded again, impatient.

I sighed and gave her a sarcastic salute. I followed the light.

"She seems to be fine," she said to Dimitri. "Although I'd check her mental health if I were you."

I stuck my tongue out at her.

"Don't worry, that's normal." Dimitri laughed.

She winked at him and walked away, giving us permission to leave.

Dimitri pulled me up from the bed. We walked out hand in hand, me leaning into him.

"I told you I was fine."

He sighed. "It doesn't hurt to make sure."

"It does when you have a blood test."

He hesitated before replying. "You didn't have a blood test."

"Yet."

He laughed. "I don't think that will happen."

I smiled. "And if it does…?"

He hugged me from behind, wrapping his arms around my waist. "If you do, I will make it worth your while."

My heart fluttered with a million butterflies. "Worth my while, huh? And if I don't?"

"Are we making a bet?" he asked playfully.

"Nah." I turned around in his arms. "I just wanted to see what you could give up."

He kissed my cheek. "I would give up everything for you, Roza. Anything and everything."

I blushed.

He lifted my chin with his finger. "Everything."

He kissed me. His hard, yet soft lips against mine felt like the sky was crashing and the planets were exploding around us, but none of it matter. It was just me and him, nothing else.

I pulled away, a smile plastered on my face. "You're too good for me."

"Nothing is too good for you, Roza. I've waited for so long to be with you, and now that we're here…" he trailed off.

I traced his smile with my finger. "it's perfect. Everything is finally going to plan. This is what _I've_ been waiting for. That perfect life that I thought we'd have. You, me and Lissa. No problems…no…nothing unusual to worry about."

He took my hand that I was stroking his face with and kissed it.

"We're not there yet, Roza. But almost."

I nodded. "Almost."

He kissed me again, something that would never get ordinary.

**Hey guys.**

**I know its really really short but I thought it was better than nothing, and it was just something that made me smile (writing it).**

**Enjoy!**

**Lauren**


	25. Twist

I was sitting on my bed, reading one of Dimitri's favourite Western books, and yes, I was actually reading it, not skimming through the pages then looking up what happens online to convince people that I read it like I normally did.

And it was quite interesting, if my comment was anything to go by. I could see the appeal Dimitri had towards the old western, but, and that was a big but, to be honest, I didn't see how sitting down for like, six hours, was worth the 'suspense'.

And yet, I was sitting there for my second hour, reading it. I had been drawn in by the book I could notice nothing else.

There was a knock at my door. I set the book down with the pages turned out to where I was reading and hopped off the bed to answer the door. My whole head spun since I had seen nothing except the pages for an hour and a half.

I opened the door, a little more excited than I should by the book.

Dimitri was wide eyed and heavy breathing as he studied me for a second.

"Rose?" he asked, a little concerned.

I paused. Strange he was worrying about me. "Ya?"

He paused this time. "Are you alright?"

I was slow. "Ya."

"You don't have a headache or…?"

"Na."

He sighed in relief.

"What's going on?"

"Lissa."

"What about Lissa?"

Then I felt it through the bond. I had been so sucked up in the book that I hadn't noticed.

She was screaming and crying in pain. She held her head, wishing for the headache to go away.

I collapsed on the ground, feeling her pain. I pulled my head from hers, gasping. Dimitri was kneeling by my side, placing a hand on my back.

I didn't look at him. I bolted up, clutching my pendant around my neck to make sure I had it, then ran towards Lissa. He followed after me swiftly.

I didn't have my other pendant. I would feel that pain after I gave my pendant to Lissa, but I had to protect her. That meant saving her from this.

There was a giant crowd surrounded Lissa's room, her cry purely audible through the crowd's almost silent murmurs.

I pushed through, shouting at people so they would move out of my way. Dimitri came behind, saying things a little bit more politely, but still having the same effect on the movement of the ground.

Finally, I broke free of the crowd and raided the door until I burst into the room and knelt beside Lissa, screaming in pain on the ground.

I stroked her hair quickly with one hand as I clutched the pendant and tugged it off my neck. I squeezed it.

"This will help you, Lissa. Oksana made-"

I placed it around her neck. As soon as I wasn't touching it anymore, my head screamed in protest. I fell backwards, clutching my head. This was much, much, much worse than the last time. Lissa was still, her eyes closed.

I passed out with her soon after.


	26. She fades

I was trapped. It felt like claustrophobia, like I would freak out if I touched any of the walls. I could only move in a metre box without my vision getting fuzzy. I was forced to watched whatever was placed in front of me.

"ROSE!"

I turned around, careful to stay within my invisible box in the darkness. I saw Lissa waving frantically at me to get my attention, before she walked towards me, like there was a road within the black.

We stood together, looking out at what now was a rainforest.

"Is this real?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No. this is a dream."

"Which is a bad thing?"

I looked at her and nodded once. "This is bad."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. I didn't see you this time"

She sighed and sat down, strangely comfortable. "Perfect. We're both clueless."

I smiled. "In more ways than one."

She looked up at me, and then we started to laugh. I sat down, skimming the place where I would put my butt with my hand before I did.

The scenery changed, and now we were watching ourselves, lying on the ground in Lissa's room. Our faces were emotionless, but the people hovering over us, concern flooded their faces.

Dimitri stroked my face while the doctor walked through the door, assessing Lissa before me, naturally.

"What's going on?" Dimitri asked as calmly as he could manage, which was strange for him.

The doctor sighed. "I don't know. I've never seen anything like this."

He picked up the pendant that hung around Lissa's neck, studied it, then let it go.

One of the witnesses that had been crouched around Lissa when I put the pendant on her, cleared her throat to draw attention to herself, though you could tell she was very shy.

"She said something," she said. She pointed at me. "That one, she said…Oksana made this…or something like that."

Dimitri's head shot up.

"Oksana?"

She shrugged. "Something like that."

He pulled himself from the ground, looking away from my body, but somehow I knew I wasn't totally forgotten in his burst.

"Oksana? Are you sure?"

She leant away from him. "I'm not sure! But…I think so."

He pulled out his phone and dialled a number. He walked over to the corner and talked in Russian. I couldn't pay attention to anything besides Dimitri, though.

"They're figuring it out." I breathed to Lissa with a smile.

She sighed in relief. "They are?"

I looked at her. "Are you not watching this?"

She looked at me in confusion. "Watching what?"

"Dimitri…" I said slowly. "Us. Everyone crowded around us…."

She looked out. "Wait, wait, wait….now I am."

I looked out too, to see Christian walk into the room and crouch beside Lissa frantically, stroking her hair and kissing her head like Dimitri had done with me.

"You see Christian?" I asked her.

She nodded. "And you see Dimitri."

I smiled. "I guess we see what we want to see, huh?"

She smiled. "This place just got better."

I frowned, thinking to myself. "Lissa?"

She looked at me. "Yeah?"

"Do you feel…" I said slowly. "Do you feel like you never want to leave? Like we could stay here and be happy for the rest of our lives?"

She sighed. "Yeah. But…"

I looked at her.

"But…?"

She squinted, like her head hurt for a split second. "I…nothing."

"No." I urged, smelling something fishy. "Tell me."

"I…don't…" she said, squinting again. "Remember."

"You don't remember?"

she nodded slowly. "I…"

She started fading away, quickly. I started to panic when I couldn't touch her. Her body was disintegrating, but not piece by piece. Her whole body at once.

"Liss? LISS!"

She looked down at herself, then at me, wide eyed, before she disappeared.

"LISSA!"

I looked back down to Dimitri. He was now by my side again, but I looked past him at Lissa.

In relief, I saw her eyes fluttering open.

Now how the hell was I going to get out?


	27. She dies

Sat down on my patch of black, waiting for something interesting to happen. At least I could see what was happening, even if that was watching Lissa try to get me awake. She had made a full recovery, not that there was anything visibly wrong with her other than the headache that brang us both down.

I sort of tuned out everything. I watched Dimitri. He had been asked to sit this one out, for some reason, and as much as he wanted to argue, he couldn't resist being with me twenty four seven. He'd been awake for thirty hours now, stroking my face and hair.

"Dimitri…" I whimpered, hugging my knees. I'd never had this much claustrophobia before, but I guessed that it was mixed in with confusion and lonliness.

"She can see everything," Lissa tried to convince Christian and Adrian in the corner, in earshot of Dimitri. "She sees what she wants to see, but she's trapped there. It makes her want to stay there…forever."

"She wants to be there?" Christian asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. When I was there, I felt it too. I couldn't remember anything…I was happy. It was strange and I knew that I missed my old life, but I wanted to stay. I don't know if it's the same with just Rose, but I know she's trapped whether she wants to be or not."

I was trapped. Yes, I was definitely trapped. And I wanted to stay, sure. Forever, just like she said, but I wanted to go back more.

"Maybe her mind is stronger than mine," she continued. "It is, actually, but I don't know the effect that will have."

"She is strong," Dimitri said, not keeping his eyes off of me. He turned his head over his shoulder at Lissa. "She'll find her way home."

Lissa smiled sadly at Dimitri. "I'm sorry, Dimitri."

He sighed then looked back to me. "You should go get some rest, Princess. You've gone through quite a lot."

"She can see you, Dimitri," she said suddenly. She looked over to me, like she could see me. Maybe she could remember where we had seen the room from before, I didn't know, but she frowned.

"Look into that camera. Talk. I know it sounds weird but…that's where she is. She's looking over you."

He looked at her. "You said she can see anything she wants…"

"She wanted to see you."

He breathed in and smiled slightly. "Good night, Princess."

"Lissa." I corrected automatically, even though they couldn't hear me.

Lissa nodded with a small smile and left with Christian. Adrian was still standing in the room. He took one look at me, then left as well.

Dimitri closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

"Rose," he muttered. "I've come this far to believe what you and Lissa say about…Spirits. Ghosts. If she says this will work…Man, I hope you can hear me. I've called for Oksana. She can help, hopefully.

"Mom and Viktoria and Sonya are coming down as well. I called them last night. They knew I was alive, of course, but I hadn't talked to them. They couldn't believe that you did it, Rose. You did it.

"Sonya had the baby. I don't know what she called it or what gender it is. She wouldn't tell me. She said it was a surprise for you, and she knew I would tell you. She was right to do that.

"Come home, Roza. Please. Oksana isn't far away. She will help you…"

He was convincing himself now. I smiled and hugged my knees closer to my chest.

"I love you, Roza. I don't think you have grasped that enough, or can. You're everything to me."

He looked down at me just in time to see my face smile. He gasped a little in surprise and looked back at the camera.

"You can hear me? Oh, Roza…"

He hugged my body, kissing my cheek. I felt it. My cheek got warm. I placed my fingers over the kiss, making sure it stayed there permanently.

He went back to stroking my hair. "She'll be here any minute. I love you, Roza. Please. Please come home."

"ROSE!"

I looked behind me, where the sound had come from.

I didn't recognize him.

I was thrilled to see him, but I couldn't smile. I guessed I looked pretty sad from where he saw me.

He was yard away. He beckoned me towards him, but I didn't move.

"Rose! Come on!"

"I can't." I said quietly. "I'm trapped."

"No, Rose, you're fine. You're not trapped!" he tried.

He ran towards me, actually coming closer. He reached me and tried to take my arm. It was white compared to his.

His fingers slipped through my skin.

My head began to spin.

"Rose?"

I looked at him. "Who…who are you?"

His eyes widened. "It's me! Adrian?"

"Who?"

He looked scared. "Rose!"

"I'm trapped. I can't come with you," I said in a daze, my head still spinning. "I'm trapped."

"No, you're not .You're perfectly fine! Rose! Come with me! Get up!"

He tried to take my hand again, but now as his fingers melted into my arm, you could see them through the mist that was my body.

"I'm fading away," I said with a smile. "It's…easy."

"NO! ROSE! Take the hard road! Please!"

"But I want to stay." I argued softly. "This is amazing."

"No, it's not!" he argued back, scared and frustrated. I couldn't see why he was scared for me anymore. I had never felt better. "You need to come back. Come back for me! Please!"

"But I don't know you."

He sighed, frustrated. "For Dimitri! Come back for Dimitri!"

I squinted and looked back onto my own little TV show. But that what it was, now. I couldn't look at the one person. There wasn't one person who I knew well enough.

I looked back to him. "Who's Dimitri?"

He was so scared a tear leaked from his eye. I didn't like it. He was an angel. Angel's shouldn't cry.

I wiped away the tear, surprising him that I could touch him.

I tilted my head to the side. "Why are you crying?"

He tried to stroke my cheek, but he failed. I was ghost like, now. It was blissful.

"You can't leave." He pleaded. "Please come home."

"Home?"

"Yes. Home. In your own body with your friends and family and Dimitri and…me."

"But I'm trapped."

He breathed out, sounding like little gasps. "Then take my hand," he held his hand out to me. "I'll make you free."

"If I'm free," I warned him. "I will float away."

"Then what am I meant to do?" he shouted.

I stroked his face. "Go home." I suggested, just like he suggested to me. He told me to go home, I didn't see why he didn't want to go himself.

"I'm not going home without you. Please, Rose."

I squinted. "Who's…?"

"You haven't forgotten your own name, have you?" he asked in desperation. "Shit Rose! Rose! You are Rose! Your best friend is Lissa! Can you not remember anything?"

I thought for a second then frown. "I…no."

He collapsed. I knelt by him and tried to get him to look at me.

"Angel's shouldn't cry, A…Ard…Adrian."

"I'm no angel, Rose. You'd know that. You should know that."

I paused. He was crying and it was my fault. He shouldn't cry.

"I'm sorry."

He sighed. "Come with me," he tried in a last attempt. "You need to come home."

"If I'm free, I'll float away."

I couldn't see my fingers anymore, nor my hands or my arms. I was almost invisible.

"Floating is easy." I said.

"I know."

I grabbed his arm. "Float with me. Floating is easy. Going home is hard. Life is harder than fading away."

"Life is real." He whispered. "And so are you."

"Life is hard." I argued in my whisper.

"Yes, it is." He agreed.

"Fading is easy."

"That may be."

"Why do you want me to come home? Why not fade?"

He squinted, but he couldn't see me anymore.

"Rose…" he whimpered.

Free.

**WHOA! Okay, three chapters in the one day…legendary! *cheers***

**Did I kill her? Again? Dude I loooove killing her Idk why, but I love getting really paranoid reviews :)**

**I was actually crying with Adrian in this. I tried to make her fade and become more stupid over the time…did I succeed? It was my first attempt…**

**R&R!**

**Also, I am sad to say that this story is coming to a close :( but…..it will have a sequel! Can I get a WOOT WOOT! I believe it will be called something like "Saving you" or something along those lines. Last Sacrifice is the last book in the VA series, I know, but with the cliffy I will leave hanging at the end of this story, you will be hunting me down if I don't continue :) But it really is a separate book.**

**I would like to say thank you to all my readers! I love you all! I love receiving all your compliments and thank you for correcting me and putting me on track! Especially the ones that talk to me like you've known me all your life.**

**Eg. Lauren…come on. Seriously!**

**Haha! **

**Yours awesomely**

**Lauren**


	28. The family

I was in a daze. I could hear mumbles around me. I could feel my neck lift off the ground in someone's arms before my legs bent around something hard and I was hovering. I couldn't open my eyes, and my mouth was totally disconnected from my brain.

Lights passed through what I could see. It felt and sounded like I was in a tunnel. Every voice echoed multiple times, so much that I could only just make them out. But my brain wasn't working right. I wasn't paying attention to the voices; they were watching the lights dancing in the air before they rested above my head, two straight, parallel, thick lines of light.

I closed my eyes for longer than necessary as hands flew around me and a high pitched voice screamed out to me.

"Come back to me, Rose. Come on. Breathe deeply for me." A loud voice sounded like it was shouting in my head.

I followed the instructions wordlessly. I wanted to say something, anything, but it wouldn't work. My mouth wouldn't even close, but I could swallow perfectly.

There was a compression on my chest, then another, then another. It hurt and I was quite sure I would bruise there tomorrow. If I lived through tomorrow.

"ROSE! Please!" the high pitched was being dragged away. A girl with blonde, curly hair. She was beautiful. She looked familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I didn't know her name, yet.

I tried to say something to stop the hurting in my chest, but I chocked on my words. I was slowly finding my mouth again, but only a mumble came out now.

I rolled my head to the side and opened my eyes as best as I could. I was so tired.

That was her. The blonde girl.

Lissa.

Yes. That was her. I remember…

Lissa.

My eyes flew open and I shot up into a seating position, almost smacking heads with a few of the people crowded around me. I coughed over the side of the bed, gasping for breath when I could get it in.

There was a cautious murmur. No one knew what was going on with us, and I guessed they were looking for an answer from me. But to tell the truth, I was just as confused as they were. Everything was happening so quickly…but there was only one answer that seemed possible for this to have happened.

I had a complete check up as I sat on the bed, again. There was nothing wrong with me, again, physically, but even though I had been sleeping for so long, I was so tired.

My legs swung over the side of the bed as I placed my head in my hands and shut my eyes. Dimitri came and sat next to me and pulled me into him. I looked up at him, and then leaned on his chest.

"Do you know what happened?" he asked softly.

I wasn't certain, but I had a pretty good idea.

"Victor," I chocked.

Someone stroked my hair. "What…?"

I looked to Dimitri. "Victor. He...He infected me, _us_. A virus."

Everyone was alarmed. "A virus? How is that possible?" Dimitri growled.

I shrugged. "He was trying to kill us, make us brain damaged. But something went wrong."

He stiffened. "I would say I want to kill him, but he's already dead."

I groaned. "I don't get this! He wasn't young and he wasn't killed violently! Why is he still hanging around?"

Dimitri rubbed my arm. "Right now, that doesn't matter. But you can be absolutely sure you aren't going outside the wards anytime soon."

"But what about Lissa? What about college?"

"She won't be going anywhere either until this is all sorted out." He soothed.

"It's got to be soon." I said, mostly to myself, hoping it was true. "That we can just live that happily ever after. Our dreams…" I sighed. "They're slipping away everyday."

He squeezed my shoulders. "We'll figure it out, Roza. I promise."

I pulled away from him to look at him. "How can you say that? How can you promise anything at this point?"

"I'm sorry, Rose. I just want to make this better."

"We all do." I breathed in. "And it won't be any time soon, will it?"

"Do you think it is?"

I shook my head. "No. It won't. But this isn't just going to go away by itself."

"So what are you going to do?"

I thought about it for about a minute. What was I going to do? I couldn't just let him terrorize us all this time, even if he would go away in about a month. I couldn't risk that again, and what if I wasn't cured yet? What if this continued? We certainly couldn't test it without another complication.

I decided I would wait it out another month and try again. I saw no other choice, really. If I couldn't walk outside of the wards, I would let the infection get to me. I would slip away. I would float. Fade.

I would die. Again.

*****Interval*****

"OLENA!"

I ran at average speed as I saw her step out of the font passenger seat of the car. She saw me with wide eyes and hugged me tightly.

"Roza…" she whispered, a smile placed on her face. It had been a while since I had seen that genuine smile, all the way back before they didn't know anything about what had happened to Dimitri.

"I'm so sorry," I told her. "I wasn't allowed…"

She stroked my face, starting at the corner of my mouth and drawing my smile. "You were doing what you were told. Of course you had too." She smiled.

I smiled and hugged her again. "He's actually on duty at the moment, but we'll go put your bags in your room and then we'll go hunting for him."

She laughed. "Like you haven't been doing enough of that. I'm so glad you saved him, Rose. I owe you everything."

I shook my head and took her heaviest bag over my back. "You owe me nothing."

Sonya was already out of the car, followed by Viktoria. I tried my best to smile and wave at her, but she ignored me. Yep, still angry with me.

Sonya was a lot less round this time, which made me laugh at how shocked it made me. She bent into the back seat of the car, and produced a baby from within the car.

Sonya and Viktoria joined us, both their expressions different. Sonya was at least happy to see me.

"You felt the need not to tell Dimitri the details?" I asked her lightly.

She laughed. "It's payback."

"What did he ever do?" I asked curiously.

"I was the last to know about you."

I laughed with her then.

"Can I asked what he slash she is?"

She smiled and gestured for me to drop the bag. I did, and took the baby in my arms.

"Her name is Alicia."

"That's…wow."

Sonya laughed. "She's my world."

I carried the bag inside, the majority of it all. I set the bag down in the room for them and let them to settle in while I found Dimitri. Viktoria was still ignoring me, but I pretended to accept it, even though I would change that.

I searched the whole court before I looked at the time and saw that, technically, he would be just knocking off his duty. So now….he'd rather be in my room or his. He didn't know where his family was staying yet, so he relied on me to get the information out.

I went to my room so he would come and find me.

I unlocked the door and decided to change into my pyjamas. It was late. Most of the Moroi would be going to bed now, but I couldn't say that for the guardians. Everyone ran on a different schedule, and I was lucky to get five days off.

There was a knock on the day when my toes were just dry of red nail polish. I peaked out the crack of the door before opening it.

"Room one eighty nine." I told him.

He smiled. "Thank you."

He wrapped his arms around my waist and drew me into him.

"Aren't you coming?" he whispered into my ear.

I shook my head. "I've had my time with them for now." I told him. "Go have your family time. You need it lots more than I do now. Lots."

He laughed. "True. But you could come anyway."

"No dice, Comrade."

He sighed in fake disappointment. "Okay, Rosemarie."

I elbowed him playfully.

He laughed with me quietly before kissing me once, twice, three times. His arms squeezed around me.

"Go," I said finally. "I'm not going anywhere."

"By now, I choose not to believe it."

I rethought my words. "I won't go anywhere voluntary?"

He smiled. "Good enough."

I pushed him out the door. "Go. I'll be right here later if you want to come and…talk."

"Just like you're giving me family time, I'm giving you sleep." He told me. "Good night, Roza, and please, try not to get sucked into your dreams again. I was scared for you."

I smiled. "You're not scared of anything."

"If you still believe that by now, you haven't been paying attention."

I kissed him one more time before he left and promised me we would see each other tomorrow. I closed the door and leant against it, resting my head on it as I smiled.

Dimitri was mine. I still couldn't wrap my head around how strange that was. All through that, I had looked for him in a hope to give him his final wish, and now that he was home…he had changed, but it was nice. He acted like a boyfriend, mixed with the instructor and friend. I still looked up to him, after all this.

I still loved him.

I walked over to the window and saw the sunset. I envied it, to tell the truth. For billions of years, it's known what was coming.

Every night has its dawn.

"What's my dawn?" I whispered.

Was it death? Was I meant to die all those years ago? Had I been cheating fate? Would ending my life end the war?

I was sure of one thing, though. Something I couldn't tell Dimitri. He wouldn't let me; he would try to save me again. But this had all happened because of me, or people have just been able to manipulate me.

Through all the wars…

I would be the last sacrifice.

**Hey**

**Lots of fluff coming up before the end of the book, so chill! No, I will tell you what the last chapter is! Breathe!**

**Love the reviews, guys. Got heaps that made me smile, which you guys know, I absolutely LUV!**

**Not to make myself look better or whatever, but I really like my ending. It just sort of…fit. It will come up (if all goes to plan) later too, I think. It'll be a finale you will play in your mind all day :)**

**Thanks once again**

**Lauren**


	29. Viktoria WTF

I wasn't told this before, but Oksana was already on campus. She had saved me from fading, apparently, which explained the new pendant hanging around my neck that I hadn't noticed until yesterday afternoon. It was a little silver owl, its eyes glowing with red rubies. It was flat and wide, and its wings hung on either side of it loosely, like its tail that had separated into three waves that rippled whenever I moved.

I was so glad this was stylish. I wasn't going to take it off any time soon.

Dimitri had met up with his family, and rumour was that he actually cried. Man, I would have loved to see that, but then again, maybe not. Regardless of the rumours, I knew just from knowing Olena, Viktoria and Sonya that they would have cried when they saw him too.

I walked around in my new Domo tee that Sonya had brang from Russia for me. It was a Japanese cartoon character, a brown, rectangle dude with round hands. His mouth was a smaller rectangle which was red with sharp, yet non threatening, teeth sticking up from the bottom and top of the rectangle. Fittingly, this particular one had bullets strapped around its shoulder, and hung below its hip.

Dimitri was still spending time with his family, which he should be, but I got a very convincing invite from Dimitri for lunch today, which I was very pleased with. He was mostly catching up with his mother today, which was really happy about. They deserved that time together.

But at ten o'clock, I had two hours to waste, and I couldn't stay in my room with the finished book and still stay sane…ish.

I decided to spend my time with Lissa, since we were doing that thing again where we were slipping away. We hadn't talked at all since the 'infection', but I knew we wouldn't talk about it at all when we did talk. In textbook, we really wouldn't be able to talk about anything, but I also knew it wouldn't end up like that.

I sat down on the ground and hugged my knees, just like I had last time, and looked out over the cemetery. I dragged my eyes away from my own grave, but then I would let them stay there because I knew they would rest on Eddie's if I wasn't careful.

The cemetery made me anxious. I wanted to talk to these people, to make sure that they were happy when they went away. But, because of Victor, I would never know. All these people may not get what they stuck around for because it was too dangerous for anyone to go outside of the wards. Especially me. Especially Lissa.

My grave was still empty, but my death date had been sanded off until I did die. Die fully. Dead. As in, never coming back.

There was a crunching in the green grass behind me before Lissa sat next to me and hugged her knees like I was. We looked at each other for a second, and then leaned into each other, looking out at the cemetery.

"This place draws to you, doesn't it?" she whispered.

I nodded softly. "I don't know why. I guess…with my connection with the dead and all…no matter how hard I try I just can't ignore it."

She didn't look like she wanted to say much today. She looked like she wanted me to explain the meaning of life, but I was also looking for that happiness.

I continued softly. "You should have seen how many people are waiting at the gates. All those people have unfinished business on the earth, and I'm the only one who can help them, but I can't because of…him."

She sighed. "It's not right." She whispered.

"I know."

We sat there for about ten minutes, not saying another word. I read the names of the fallen that I could read from here, making myself feel terrible.

"Do you every think it'll get better?" she asked suddenly.

I looked at her briefly, scanning to see if I should lie or not. She was in no mood to be lied too right now.

"I honestly don't know, Liss. But…do you still have my note? The one I gave you at my trial? Before I ran?"

She thought about it for a second, then her eyes got wide and she dug in her pockets and found it. It hadn't been opened, thankfully.

She handed it too me, but I passed it back. "Just making sure you still have it. You may need it…soon."

"What do you think is going to happen?"

I carefully thought my words over in my head, making sure it wasn't obvious.

"What was meant to happen."

She frowned in confusion, but she knew me well enough to know not to push for details that I don't tell her straight forward.

She let her breath go in a gust.

"Come on, Liss. Let's go get a manicure?"

She laughed. "Sure."

I helped her off the ground before dusting myself off and walking with her back to the main building. We past a large crowd of Dhampirs and Moroi, and I spotted someone in the crowd that made me sigh.

Lissa looked at me sideways. "You have to go?" she guessed.

I nodded. "Sorry. But I can't-"

"Relax, Rose." Lissa laughed. "I understand. Go."

I gave her one last look before I stepped towards the group, the first two people knew who I was, apparently, cause they stepped aside for. Then the next, then the next, then people who I had never seen before started to copy their friends.

I walked down the isle before Viktoria saw me and sighed like I had when I saw her with him.

"What's going on here?" I asked sweetly.

The Moroi guy, not too much older than me, smirked at me. "We were about to head out," he beckoned. "You can join in, if you'd like."

I looked at Viktoria, disappointment spread all over my face. "Really?" I asked her, like a "C'mon! You're being stupid!"

"Yes," she said without shame. "And you're not apart of it."

The man smiled. "Now, c'mon. We can't be…rude."

I stepped into his face. "Who the hell do you think you are?" I snarled at him.

He seemed to like the close proximity. "Sexy. Stunning."

I snorted. "Not even."

This made him angry. "What do you care?"

"I care about her."

Viktoria was furious. "ROSE! GO AWAY!" she shouted at me, stepping between me and him.

"You're kidding me!" I said. "Why are you doing this? Do you _want_ to be pregnant?"

She crossed her hands over her chest. "And if I do?"

I grabbed her arm and tried to pull her away from this creepy, but I was spun around by the man by the arm and punched in the mouth, knocking me backwards onto the ground, blood pouring from my mouth. I wiped it on my sleeve and stood up swiftly.

"I'm not going to fight you," I told him. "I am going to take her back where she belongs and you're never going to see her again."

He threw another punch, this time hitting me in the eye. I did not stumble backwards like before when I was caught off guard.

He snorted. "Yeah? And who's gonna make me?"

"Me."

He raised an eyebrow. "And who are you?"

I smiled. "Rose Hathaway."

His features immediately froze up and he let his arms go from around Viktoria. She was glaring at me like she wanted to set me ablaze.

I pulled him in by his collar and whispered into his ear dangerously. "Run."

As soon as I pushed him to the ground, he stumbled up and ran away.

"Coward."

I turned towards Viktoria.

"You ruined my life!" she shouted.

"No, that would be you." I told her. "How could you do this to your mother? To Dimitri? To yourself?"

"I'm not doing anything unnatural! Having a baby-"

"to young can ruin your life." I finished for her, cutting in. I sighed. "Viktoria, go back to your room or wherever you want to go, think about this, even talk to my mother, then come back to me when you've made your decision."

"I don't need to tell you anything." She hissed.

"You do if you don't want your mother or Dimitri involved." I blackmailed.

She frowned. "You wouldn't."

I raised an eyebrow. "You know I would."

She continued to glare at me, then sighed herself. "Fine."

I smiled at her, but she ignored it and walked away.

**Sorry, I know its short, but I have been reading a new book series which is really good, and I only have so much time in one day. The next update will be done after I finish this last book, which shouldn't be long. I read like crazy :)**


	30. Encountersplease read bold!

I sat Alicia on my knee at lunch to give Sonya a break. She thanked me with a sigh and ate peacefully while she told me how to feed her. After a demonstration, I was able to feed her on my own, and it placed a smile on my face.

Dimitri watched me from where he sat, next to his mother.

I stuck my tongue out at Alicia and she giggled, which made me giggle with her.

"She's so adorable." I told Sonya.

She sighed. "I know. I love her to pieces. She's one of the best things that have ever happened to me."

I smiled back at Alicia.

It was surprisingly hard to eat lunch with Alicia on in my hands. But I managed.

She eventually fell asleep in my arms, after I finished juggling her around while trying to put a hamburger in my mouth. I placed her in her stroller carefully, failing to keep the smile off my face.

I saw Viktoria eyeing me and Alicia, but when I caught her, I raised an eyebrow at her, and she looked away instantly.

"So, Roza," Olena smiled at me. "Are you thinking of having kids?"

I had had my soda sucking up a straw and into my mouth, but that was sprayed to the side, my preferable place to spray my drink instead of in someone's face. I coughed into the back of my hand.

Dimitri cringed. "Mother…"

She looked innocent. "Okay, I'm not meaning anytime soon, or that you and Dimitri _could_ have one, since your both Dhampirs…but one day? Rose?"

I had finished chocking on my soda and had stuffed some hamburger in my mouth to try and avoid the question. I knew it wouldn't work, that was obvious, but at least I had time to think about it.

"Umm…err…yeah….I guess. But not until I've had a good enough life as a Guardian. I know I might be able to go back someday…after, but…I have beliefs that the mother shouldn't just send her child off to an academy. It's not nice, not that I am pointing any fingers at my mother."

Olena nodded, and then slowly, she turned to Dimitri. "And you?" she asked with a small smile.

I had never seen Dimitri look more uncomfortable. It was one thing to ask your son's girlfriend, but a mother asking a son? That was almost never heard of. It was surprisingly enjoyable from where I was watching, although I pitied his uncomfortable face.

I cupped my hands over my face, my elbows on the table, to cover my smile. Sonya, apparently, had the same idea as me. She snorted, though, which was why she started to cover her mouth in the first place.

"I suppose," Dimitri said, looking thoughtful, but I knew he was embarrassed, especially saying this in front of me. "But only if the circumstances where perfect."

Viktoria snorted and started giggling like a little school girl. She got up from the table and left, rounding the corner to laugh.

Dimitri was hoping that was the last of the questions. He was wrong.

"Circumstances?" Olena asked. She was just teasing now, but I could sense real curiosity and worry behind her words. She truly cared about what would happen to her son.

Dimitri nodded after a moment, choosing his words carefully. "No terrible danger to the world. And like Rose said, I would have to make sure that I was ready for it. But, of course, if it were to happen without me knowing…" his eyes flashed to me so quickly that I was questioning myself if I had actually seen it. He was referring to me cheating on him. As if. "And there was no other choice for me, morally; I would certainly give it up."

He was trying to keep his mothers options open. He didn't want to say my name, since his mother had not mentioned me in the question. It would be strange if he had said my name, but the intentions were clear to me.

Viktoria joined us then, sitting down silently, her eyes looked like she was crying from laughing so much. She couldn't keep the grin off her face, though.

I smiled at Dimitri and him to me. We were pleased with ourselves, dodging the questions whilst answering them. It takes a very smarticle person to do that. Like us.

Olena looked back to me. "Well, when that happens, Rose, I want you to call me the instant you find out, and I will fly back here in an instant, probably Sonya too, to help.

My smile faltered. "When?"

She laughed. "If. Let's say If."

I breathed out.

She laughed.

I hadn't noticed that Dimitri had gotten out of his chair, and was now standing behind me, his hand on my hip, and his lips at my ear.

"Come on. There's someone I think you should see."

I nodded and said my goodbyes to them all, including a small kiss on the head for Alicia. We walked away hand in hand.

He took me to Tatiana's old room, which would now be renovated for Adrian. We knocked on the door, and Adrian greeted us. The renovations were quick.

"Rose! Come on in!" he said cheerfully, taking my hand and leading me inside.

When I saw Denis sitting on a bed, talking to Lissa, I grinned.

He saw me, and reflected my expression. He got off the bed and hugged me, swinging me around, my feet off the floor.

"Oh, my god, Denis!" I squealed and hugged him.

He laughed, and pulled me off him slightly. "Now, now. Wouldn't want to make Mr. Macho jealous, would we?"

I looked back at Dimitri who was smiling and shaking his head.

"So the test results came back?" I asked.

He nodded. "I am now officially your best friend's brother. That makes us related! Kind of."

He was almost exactly like Adrian, but he had that special touch of Denis that I liked.

"So the council must be taking it hard," I mused. "Their first Dhampir royal."

Lissa got up. "Kind of, but they'll manage. They managed you two, didn't they?" she looked at me and Dimitri.

"I guess we're breaking _all_ the rules now." I said.

Lissa and Denis laughed. "I guess so." Denis smiled.

***interval***

I hated to admit it, but a month flew by quicker than I had expected it too. I had met with Oksana, had lunch with her and showed her around. I hung out with Viktoria again, this time was a little less tense as she told me she had rethought her motives and placed them as desperation. She had thanked me she had not made that mistake.

I let it go on for a whole fifty days, just to be safe. It seemed like a long time, on paper. In reality, though, it was really only a month and two thirds. Not long at all.

I scrawled a letter and hid it under my pillow for Dimitri. That way, it wouldn't be obvious if someone came in and there was no worry. If they looked for it, though, afterwards, they would definitely find it.

_I need this to stop. I am desperate! He's out there. I don't know what else to do! I will kill him mentally. No one will be safe until I do._

_I love you, Dimitri. And, I'm sorry._

_-R_

I tuck it neatly under my pillow with a tear sliding down my face, before lifting my chin and walking out of the room, deciding to not lock it. As if anyone would steal anything here.

I walked down to the front gate alone, seeing Gary standing on duty.

"Can you let me out, please?" I asked him.

Gary looked wary. "I don't know about that, Rose…With Dashkov and all…"

"Please, Gary? It'll be totally safe now. It's been more than forty days. He's moved on."

He bit his lip, and then decided to trust me.

He opened the gate, and I stepped out.

There was nothing at first, so much so that I thought he had moved on. I looked around, even stepped away from the wards in case they were interrupting the transmissions. There was just….nothing.

Then I noticed a glitter from behind a tree. That familiar, smirking grin…it sent shivers down my spine.

"You're supposed to be moved on." I told him.

He laughed, but it was really weak. "Yes, I am. It is taking me a lot of energy just to stay here, let alone talk to you."

"Then why stay? Piss off."

He laughed again. "Not without doing this."

He floated towards me quickly, just as quickly as before, but he didn't go all the way through me this time. He stopped and stroked my face. I flinched away, but you couldn't really avoid a ghost.

"What?" I asked in a hiss. "What did you do to me and Lissa?"

He smiled. "It's a little game in your mind, Rosemarie Hathaway."

"I'm not playing any game!"

He smirked. "You have no choice." He said with a smile. "I know what will happen to you. Your whole world will twist again, and you will have to decide. Whether you choose what you want more than anything, or what is best, is up to you. Either way, you will not come back."

He launched himself at me and I screamed louder than I ever had before. It felt like a million machine guns piercing me at ever part of my body, shooting super sharp, poisoned razer blades.

He disappeared after about twenty seconds of my pain, laughing. I collapsed on all fours, sweat dripping down my face, but I did not pass out.

I was pulled within the wards by Gary.

I leaned against the wall, standing now.

What did he want to do? I wasn't infected. I felt Lissa, she wasn't either. Was it to inflict pain? Was that it?

A game? What…? And my future…

What would he know?

"Roza!" Dimitri screamed.

I looked up at him with a smile. I felt perfectly fine now, like nothing had ever happened.

He glared at Gary, but before he could go off his nut, I interrupted.

"Don't. It's not his fault."

Dimitri turned on me. "What were you thinking?"

I swallowed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

He shook his head, his face filled with relief that I was okay. "What I wouldn't give to see in your head right now."

I laughed. "You'd need therapy if you could."

He cracked a smile and kissed me.

"He's gone." I told him. "He disappeared."

"That's good." Dimitri nodded.

"It is." I agreed. "I just hope…" I cut myself off.

He waited. "Hope…?"

I smiled. "It's fine. We're getting there."

He smiled. "Yeah. We are. And you know what?"

I frowned. "What?"

His lips were so close to mine now that they touched mine briefly when he talked.

"It's worth the wait. I love you, Roza. I will always love you. I would die for you, and I will, when it comes to it."

"If." I corrected.

He smiled. "If." He agreed.

He swallowed. "Roza?" he whispered.

"Hmm?"

"I want you to marry me." He whispered.

My breath caught, and my life suddenly was a lot brighter. But was I ready? I wasn't so sure.

But I was happy at that instant.

I hoped it would stay that way.

Forever.

PLEASE READ! SO IMPORTANT I WILL DIE IF YOU DON'T!

**I know I am so evil, but guess what?**

**No….keep guessing…keep guessing…..keep guessing…..Guessed enough yet? No? Keep guessing…..keep guessing….keep guessing…..all good? Okay.**

**THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER IN THE BOOK! YES! YOU READ RIGHT! I HAVE OFFICIALLY FINISHED THIS BOOK! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!**

**Yes, the new book will be out soon. I will add another chapter to this book for those who have just added this story as a favourite book, and not me as a favourite author. I would suggest that you do add me as a fav. Author, just in case :) But yeah, you will get a notice about the new book when I put out the new chapter, and make sure you get to it quickly! It won't be up forever.**

**Love to get your reviews on this chapter, and also about the whole book! Any suggestions for the new one will be put into serious thought and 9/10 times, will happily be put into the book.**

**WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ROSE AND DIMITRI? WILL SHE SAY YES? OOOOHHH…..**

**Thank you for all the support! You guys are like family to me!**

**Lauren, signing out for the last time in this book (officially!)**

**3333**


	31. The Last Sacrifice Saving you

The new story is out guys! Been out 4 a while. Soz, had a lot on my mind


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